东紫苏 dong zi su

Herbs perennial. Stems ascending, 25-30 cm tall, base ± prostrate, sometimes with numerous, short scaly stolons; branches and stem dark purple, spreading villous. Stolon leaves subsessile, obovate to oblong, 3.5-5 × 2-3 mm, pilose, margin entire or obscurely crenate; stem leaves subsessile, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 0.8-2.5 cm × 4-7 mm, ± leathery, glabrous, rarely sparsely pilose, tinged purple-red abaxially sparsely impressed glandular, base attenuate, margin crenate, apex obtuse. Spikes solitary, terminal, 2-3.5 cm; bract pairs united into a cup, 6-8 mm wide, villous, glandular abaxially, densely overlapping, margin white ciliate, apex mucronate; teeth lanceolate, subequal, ca. 1 mm. Corolla rose-purple, ca. 9 mm, villous outside, sparsely glandular; tube recurved, funnelfrom, to 2 mm wide at throat; upper lip emarginate; lower lip slightly spreading, middle lobe longer, margin entire. Nutlets brown-black, oblong, ca. 1.1 mm. Fl. Sep-Nov, fr. Dec-Feb.

* Pine forests, hilly grasslands; 1200-3000 m. Guizhou, Yunnan

Used medicinally. Young shoots used as a substitute for tea.

This species is close to and may be an infraspecific taxon of Elsholtzia heterophylla. It is a shorter plant with smaller flowers and has a tendency to be prostrate.