Stems slender, tufted, ascending; vegetative shoots to 30 cm, slender, spreading, rarely trailing, retrorse pilose; fertile branches few, slender, more than 5 mm, ascending to erect, retrorse pilose on inflorescences, base finely pilose. Leaves short petiolate; petiole sparsely ciliate on basal 1/3; leaf blade of lower stem leaves broadly elliptic to ovate, 0.5-1.6 cm × 1.5-5 mm, glabrous, base cuneate to attenuate, margin entire or 1- or 2-serrulate, sparsely ciliate, apex obtuse to acute. Inflorescences capitate, sometimes with widely spaced undeveloped verticillasters. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 4-5 mm, mostly pilose, conspicuously veined; teeth of upper lip lanceolate, ciliate, apex acuminate. Corolla 6-8 mm, pubescent, exserted. Fl. Jul.

Perhaps a variant of Thymus amurensis.

Steppes, hills. Heilongjiang [Russia]