Melissa axillaris (Benth.) Bakh. fil.

Used medicinally for dysentery and snake bites; also used as an essence in hair oil.

Stems ± erect, branched, 60-100 cm, pubescent. Petiole 0.2-2.5 cm; leaf blade ovate, 1.2-6 × 0.9-3 cm, herbaceous, purplish along midrib, sparsely pubescent to subglabrous, base subcordate to cuneate, margin serrate-crenate, apex acute or short acuminate to rounded. Verticillasters widely spaced; bracteoles sublinear, ciliate. Pedicel ca. 2 mm. Calyx 6-8 mm, horizontally projected, villous outside, glabrous inside, teeth of upper lip acute; lower lip almost as long as upper lip, teeth lanceolate. Corolla white or reddish, ca. 1 cm, pubescent, tube slightly exserted, upper lip emarginate, lower lip spreading. Anterior stamens included. Nutlets adaxially ribbed. Fl. and fr. Jun-Nov.

Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), Assam, Burma, S. China, Taiwan, Malaysia.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam]

1000-3600 m

Hills, valleys; 600-2800 m.

Geniosporum axillare Bentham, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 2: 18. 1830; Calamintha cavaleriei H. Léveillé & Vaniot; M. hirsuta Blume; M. parviflora Bentham; M. parviflora var. purpurea Hayata.