帚枝荆芥 zhou zhi jing jie

Herbs perennial. Stems obliquely ascending, ca. 30 cm, finely striate, subglabrous or slightly glandular puberulent. Petiole 1-2 mm; leaf blade ovate or ovate-elliptic, 1.5-3.5 × 0.7-1.5 cm, sparsely fine strigose, adaxially olive green, abaxially greenish, with small, yellowish impressed glands, base broadly cuneate to shallowly cordate, margin dentate-serrate, apex apiculate. Cymes 5-7-flowered, axillary, in narrow racemes; peduncle 1.5-8 mm; bracts and bracteoles linear, shorter than calyx, 2-3 mm. Calyx narrowly tubular, 4-5 mm, densely puberulent, throat regular; teeth lanceolate-subulate, nearly as long as tube, apex awned-acuminate. Corolla reddish, less than 1 cm, puberulent, glandular; tube slightly incurved, base ca. 0.6 mm wide, gradually dilated toward apex, abruptly dilated into throat ca. 1.5 × 1.5 mm; upper lip ca. 2.5 × 3 mm, apex deeply divided; lower lip downwardly oblique, with middle lobe reniform, ca. 2.5 × 3 mm, base bearded, emarginate. Nutlets unknown. Fl. Aug.

* Mountain basins. Xinjiang

The relationship to Nepeta nuda needs careful consideration.