Aphanochilus eriostachyus Bentham, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 1: 29. 1830; Elsholtzia eriostachya var. pusilla (Bentham) J. D. Hooker; E. pusilla Bentham; Platyelasma eriostachyum (Bentham) Kitagawa; P. eriostachyum var. pusillum (Bentham) Kitagawa.

Herbs annual. Stems 15-37 cm tall, purple-red, puber-ulent, unbranched or branched from base. Petiole 1.5-9 cm, densely fine villous; leaf blade oblong to ovate-oblong, 0.8-4 × 0.4-1.5 cm, herbaceous, apex subobtuse, finely villous, yellowish green, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin serrulate to serrate-crenate. Spikes cylindric, (1-)1.5-5 × to 1 cm, terminal; verticillasters many flowered, basal 1-3 widely spaced; rachis densely pubescent; bracts broadly ovate, 1.5 mm, pilose abaxially, margin ciliate, apex mucronate. Pedicel to 1.5 mm, densely pubescent. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1.2 mm, densely yellowish moniliform villous; teeth triangular, subequal, ciliate; fruiting calyx tubular, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm. Corolla yellow, ca. 2 mm, puberulent outside, margin ciliate, tube funnelform, upper lip emarginate; lower lip ± patent, middle lobe larger. Nutlets brown, ellipsoid, ca. 1.4 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

* Hilly grasslands; 3500-4100 m. Gansu, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.