Hyssopus cuspidatus Boriss.

Subshrubs. Stems enlarged, 30-60 cm, base woody, brown, twisted, branching from base, bark exfoliating; branches numerous, glabrous to subglabrous, base purplish. Leaves sessile, linear, 1.5-4.5 cm × 2-4 mm, mostly longer than internodes, glabrous, base attenuate, margin finely strigose, ± incurved, apex cuspidate, ca. 2 mm, ± deciduous. Verticillasters 10-flowered, pedunculate, secund, in 3-8 cm spikes; peduncle 1-2 mm; bracts and bracteoles linear, 4-8 mm, longer than pedicels, apices 2-3 mm. Calyx tubular, ca. 1 cm, throat slightly dilated, sparsely yellow glandular, veins and teeth puberulent; teeth triangular-lanceolate, ca. 4 mm, apex cuspidate. Corolla purple to white, ca. 1.2 cm, puberulent, yellow glandular; tube slightly incurved, gradually dilated upward; upper lip straight, ca. 3 mm, lobes acute; lower lip ca. 4 mm, middle lobe obcordate, apex emarginate, not wider than lateral lobes; lateral lobes broadly ovate, ca. 1.5 mm wide. Nutlets brown, triquetrous, oblong, ca. 2.5 × 0.7 mm, apex rounded, glandular, areolae basal, white.

Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].

Gravelly or stony, dry hillside grasslands; 1100-1800 m.

Hyssopus cuspidatus var. albiflorus C. Y. Wu & H. W. Li.