Teucrium sibiricum Linnaeus.

Plants perennial. Stems 17-50 cm, erect or ascending, subglabrous or with upwardly curved, short, simple hairs. Petiole almost as long as blade basally, very short in upper leaves; leaf blade ovate to lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-3.5 × 1-1.8 cm, largest on mid stem, adaxially tinged gray-blue, glabrous or sparsely appressed puberulent, abaxially paler, puberulent, yellowish glandular, veins and margin pubescent, base shallowly cordate to broadly cuneate, margin dentate-serrate, apex acute or obtuse. Cymes pyramidal, compact, many flowered, terminal, cymules 3-flowered; peduncle 2-5 mm; bracts purple, linear, as long as calyx. Pedicel 1-2.5 mm. Calyx ca. 1.1 cm, tubular-campanulate, base densely white lanate, apex glandular; teeth triangular-subulate, at least as long as tube, apex long spiny. Corolla blue, 0.9-1.2 cm, pubescent, tube nearly included, gradually dilated into throat; middle lobe of lower lip reniform, 2-3 × 3-5 mm. Nutlets black-brown, ellipsoid, 2.5-2.7 mm, round-truncate at apex and base, densely depressed tuberculate. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

The specimens from Xinjiang are somewhat different from the range outside of China: 1) Leaves strongly dentate-serrate, green tinged gray-blue; veins not shiny, impressed adaxially, elevated abaxially; 2) Pyramidal cymes compact, many flowered, terminal on stem and branches; peduncles of cymules 2-5 mm; 3) Calyx densely white lanate at apex. The correct name for our plant is uncertain; it may be the W Asian Nepeta heliotropifolia Lamarck.

Plains, grassy hills, open gravelly slopes. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan; Europe]