灯笼草 deng long cao

Calamintha polycephala Vaniot, Bull. Acad. Int. Geogr. Bot. 14: 183. 1904; Calamintha clinopodium Bentham var. nepalensis Dunn; Calamintha clinopodium var. polycephala (Vaniot) Dunn; Calamintha clinopodium var. pratensis Dunn; Calamintha tsacapensis H. Léveillé; Clinopodium chinense Kuntze subsp. grandiflorum H. Hara var. parviflorum (Kudo) H. Hara; Satureja chinensis Briquet var. parviflora Kudo.

Stems erect, 50-100 cm, base sometimes trailing, much branched, spreading glandular hairy. Petiole to 1 cm; leaf blade ovate, 2-5 × 1.5-3.2 cm, strigose, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin remotely crenate-dentate, apex obtuse to acute; upper leaves bractlike. Verticillasters many flowered, globose, to 2 cm in diam. in flower, in capitate, ample panicles; bracts needlelike, 3-5 mm. Pedicel 2-5 mm. Calyx ca. 6 × 1 mm, villous, veins glandular puberulent, throat sparsely hispid; fruiting calyx swollen on 1 side at base, to 2 mm wide; upper teeth triangular, caudate; lower teeth awned. Corolla purple-red, ca. 8 mm, tube puberulent; upper lip straight, emarginate. Stamens included, posterior 2 with small anthers; anterior 2 exserted, with normal anthers. Nutlets brown, ovoid, ca. 1 mm, smooth. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep.

* Hillsides, forests, thickets; 0-3400 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang

Widespread and very variable. Some authors consider this and the following species as conspesific with the Eurasian Clinopodium umbrosum (M. Bieberstein) Koch.

Used medicinally.