Calamintha chinensis Bentham, Prodr. 12: 233. 1848; Calamintha clinopodium Bentham var. chinensis (Bentham) Miquel; Satureja chinensis (Bentham) Briquet.

Stems to 1 m, base trailing, finely striate, densely pubescent, glandular puberulent. Petiole 3-8 mm; leaf blade ovate, bractlike apex, 2-4 × 1.3-2.6 cm, papery, adaxially densely appressed minutely hispid, abaxially pilose, base rounded to broadly cuneate, margin crenate-serrate, apex acute to obtuse. Verticillasters many flowered, semiglobose, to 3 cm in diam., upper ones ca. 1.5 cm, widely spaced; bracts numerous, needlelike, 3-6 mm. Calyx narrowly tubular, tinged purple-red, ca. 6 mm, pilose, glandular puberulent, pilose inside on teeth, base slightly swollen on 1 side in fruit; upper teeth ± reflexed, narrowly triangular, apex acuminate; lower teeth straight, awned. Corolla purple-red, ca. 9 mm, puberulent; throat with 2 rows of hairs, ca. 2 mm wide; upper lip emarginate. Nutlets yellow-brown, obovoid, ca. 1.2 × 0.9 mm. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

Hillsides, streamsides, grassy places, thickets, forests; 0-1000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].