Calamintha clinopodium Bentham var. urticifolia Hance, Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., ser. 5, 5: 235. 1866; Calamintha chinensis Bentham var. grandiflora Maximowicz; Calamintha coreana H. Léveillé; Calamintha urticifolia (Hance) Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs perennial. Rhizomes woody. Stems erect, 25-80 cm, finely striate, rigid, base semiwoody, purple-red, sparsely retrorse minutely hispid. Petioles 1-1.2 cm in lower stem leaves, 2-5 mm in upper ones; leaf blade ovate to ovate-oblong, 3-5.5 × 1.2-3 cm, papery, adaxially sparsely minutely hispid, abaxially sparsely pilose, base subtruncate to rounded, margin serrate, apex obtuse to acute. Verticillasters many flowered, semiglobose, lower to 3 cm in diam., upper ca. 2 cm, widely spaced; peduncle 3-5 mm, much branched; lower floral leaves longer than verticillasters, upper ones as long as verticillasters, bractlike; bracts linear, tinged purple-red, conspicuously ribbed, 2/3-3/4 as long as calyx, white ciliate. Pedicel 1.5-2.5 mm. Calyx narrowly tubular, ca. 8 mm, tinged purple-red, glandular puberulent, veins white ciliate, teeth sparsely pilose inside, base slightly swollen on 1 side in fruit; upper teeth reflexed, narrowly triangular, short awned; lower teeth straight, awned. Corolla purple-red, ca. 1.2 cm, puberulent, throat with 2 rows of hairs, tube ca. 1 mm wide at base, gradually dilated beyond basal 1/3 to ca. 3 mm wide at throat. Anterior stamens nearly included or slightly exserted. Nutlets obovoid, ca. 1 × 0.8 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

Doubtfully distinct and often reduced to synonymy of Clinopodium chinense var. chinense.

Hilly grasslands, forests; 300-2200 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan [Japan, Korea, Russia]