Stems slender, arcuately curved; vegetative shoots arising from stem base or rhizome, slender, to 40 cm, ascending to prostrate, finely retrorse pilose; short branchlets sometimes with small axillary tufts of leaves, sometimes elongated, fertile. Leaves oblong to ovate, 3-12 × 1-4 mm, glabrous, glandular, base attenuate, asymmetrical, margin 1-3-serrulate, lower 1/4-1/3 ciliate, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences capitate, loose, sometimes with undeveloped basal verticillasters; bracteoles subulate, to 4 mm, long ciliate. Pedicel 1-4 mm, densely pubescent. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 4-5 mm, base spreading pilose, apex glabrous or subglabrous; teeth of upper lip lanceolate to triangular, acute, ciliolate. Corolla purplish, to 8 mm, pubescent, glandular. Stamens exserted or posterior 2 included. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Doubtfully distinct from Thymus amurensis.

Dry hills, grasslands, gravelly sunny slopes; 300-800 m. Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Russia]