Sideritis ciliata Thunberg, Syst. Veg., ed. 14, 532. 1784; Elsholtzia ciliata var. brevipes C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang; E. ciliata var. depauperata C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang; E. ciliata var. ramosa (Nakai) C. Y. Wu & H. W. Li; E. ciliata var. remota C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang; E. cristata Willdenow; E. formosana Hayata; E. minina Nakai; E. patrini (Lepechin) Garcke; E. patrini var. ramosa Nakai; E. pseudocristata H. Léveillé & Vaniot; Hyssopus ocymifolius Lamarck; Mentha baicalensis Georgi; M. cristata Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don; M. ovata Cavanilles; M. patrini Lepechin; Perilla polystachya D. Don.

Herbs erect, 30-50 cm tall. Stems glabrous or pilose, stramineous, purple-brown with age. Petiole 0.5-3.5 cm, narrowly winged; leaf blade ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, 3-9 × 1-4 cm, sparsely minutely hispid, adaxially sparsely resinous glandular, base cuneate decurrent, margin serrate, apex acuminate. Spikes 2-7 × to 1.3 cm, secund; verticillasters many flowered; bracts broadly ovate to oblate, ca. 4 × 4 mm, subglabrous to puberulent, sparsely resinous glandular abaxially, glabrous adaxially, ciliate or ciliolate, apical mucro to 2 mm. Pedicel ca. 1.2 mm, subglabrous, densely white pubescent. Calyx ca. 1.5 mm, pilose, sparsely glandular outside, glabrous inside; teeth triangular, anterior longer, needlelike, ciliate. Corolla purplish, ca. 4.5 mm, villous outside, sparsely glandular on posterior side; throat pilose, ca. 1.2 mm wide; upper lip emarginate; middle lobe of lower lip semicircular, lateral lobes arcuate, shorter than middle lobe. Anthers purple-black. Style included. Nutlets yellow-brown, oblong, ca. 1 mm. Fl. Jul-Oct, fr. Oct-Jan.

Used medicinally.

Hills, waste areas, sunny terraces, riverbanks, forests; 0-3400 m. In all provinces except Qinghai and Xinjiang [Cambodia, India, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam; introduced in Europe and North America]