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.

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

Used medicinally.

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