Dracocephalum acanthoides Edgeworth ex Bentham; D. kaschgaricum Ruprecht; D. pamiricum Briquet.

Stems 10-15(-30) cm, densely retrorse pubescent. Petiole 2.5-6 cm, reduced in upper leaves; leaf blade broadly to narrowly ovate, 1.3-4 × 0.8-2.3 cm, adaxially slightly pubescent or subglabrous, base cordate, margin shallowly crenate or serrate, ciliolate, teeth of upper cauline blades spinescent, apex obtuse to rounded. Verticillasters 4-8-flowered, in apical, abbreviated internodes; bracts obovate-spatulate to oblanceolate, to 8 mm, margin 3-8-spinescent-serrulate per side, with spines 2-4 mm, sparsely minute hairy, ciliolate. Calyx greenish, 1.5-1.7 cm, sparsely pubescent, densely so basally, margin ciliolate, 2-lipped to nearly 1/2 its length; upper lip teeth divisions to 2/3 its length, teeth lanceolate, apex spinescent. Corolla white, (1.8-)2.2-3.4 (-3.7) cm, densely white or yellowish pubescent. Fl. Jun-Aug.

Subspecies ovalifolium A. L. Budantzev [Bot. Zhurn. (Moscow & Leningrad) 72: 93. 1987] was described from Shanxi.

Mountain meadows, dry rocky places; 1100-5000 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Russia]