Perennial, strongly aromatic, with a thick woody rootstock, clump-forming. Stems 30-60 cm, erect, rather slender, little or not branched, grey-white, leafy, at least when young with a dense indumentum of adpressed stellate-dendroid hairs and with or without papillose glandular hairs, ± glabrescent when old. Leaves thick, grey-white on both surfaces with a dense covering of stellate-dendroid hairs, up to 15 x 12 mm, ovate or elliptic-ovate, crenulate, broadly cuneate or truncate; clusters of younger leaves present in leaf axils; petiole up to 10 mm on lower cauline leaves, less above. Inflorescence of ± distant few- to several-flowered sessile or pedunculate cymose verticillasters borne in the axils of the upper leaves and leaf-like bracts. Inner bracts linear-oblong, much shorter than calyces. Flowers sessile or very shortly pedicellate. Calyx c. 5 mm, straight, with a very dense indumentum of stellate-dendroid hairs to a glandular-papillose indumentum with few branched hairs; throat slightly oblique; teeth narrow triangular shorter than to as long as calyx tube. Corolla pale lilac or lavender 12-15 mm; tube slender exserted, not or scarcely widened at throat; upper lip straight, shortly bifid. Nutlets narrow ellipsoid, 1.8-2 x 0.8 mm, dark brown, with an apical tuft of multicellular simple or branched hairs, minutely granular with a small subbasal areole.

Fl. Per.: June-August.

Holotype: [Kashmir B-9] Zanskar and Ladak [Hanupatta], 12 - 13,000 ft, T. Thomson (K!).

Distribution: Kashmir, Tibet?.

With the material available, which is not inadequate, there seems no reason to keep Nepeta royleana as a separate species. The various characters used to separate it and Nepeta leucolaena completely break down.