Herbs, to 1.5 m tall. Lateral roots fusiform, inflated. Rhizomes with fleshy nodules. Herbage glabrous, sparsely hairy, or white villous. Stems narrowly winged, pith white. Petiole to 5.5 cm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic-ovate, 5-12 cm, base broadly cuneate to truncate, margin acutely serrate. Thyrses spicate, to 50 cm, less than 2 cm wide; cymes all alternate or lower ones subopposite; peduncle less than 5 mm, sparsely glandular hairy. Pedicel less than 5 mm, sparsely glandular hairy. Calyx ca. 2 mm; lobes ovate-elliptic to broadly ovate, apex obtuse to rounded. Corolla yellow-green, 5-6 mm; lower lip lobes rounded to obtuse; upper lip ca. 1.5 mm longer than lower lip, lobes rounded to obtuse, with overlapping margins. Stamens almost as long as lower lip; staminode obovate. Ovary ca. 1.5 mm. Style ca. 3 mm. Capsule ovoid, 4-6 mm. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

Wild or cultivated. Lower mountain slopes, wet grassland; 200-1500 m. Gansu (Huating Xian), Hebei, Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi (Taibai Shan), Shandong, Shanxi (Xia Xian) [Japan, Korea].