Erect, perennial, scabrous herb, 30-100 cm tall; stem 4-angled, hispid. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 4-10 cm long, 5-15 mm broad, rugose, sharply serrate, acute, semiamplexicaul at the base. Spikes terminal, compact, paniculately corymbose. Flowers c. 5 mm across, violet or bluish-purple. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate, equal to or slightly exceeding the calyx. Calyx-tube 3-4 mm long, cylindrical, with 5, subulate lobes, pubescent. Corolla-tube 6-8 mm long, 5-lobed, with lobes c. 2 mm long, emarginate. Anther connective not appendaged.

Type: “Hab. in agro Bonariensis.” Herb. Linn. 35/11 (LINN).

Distribution: A native of S. America, introduced and naturalized in the Himalayas and elsewhere in the Old World.