Elsholtzia kachinensis Prain

Young shoots edible.

Herbs slender, diffuse, 10-40 cm tall. Stems prostrate, villous, rooting adventitiously at base. Petiole 3-15 mm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1-3.5 × 0.5-2 cm, herba-ceous, sparsely fine pilose, adaxially puberulent on midrib, base broadly cuneate, margin crenate-serrate above base, apex acute to obtuse. Spikes ovoid in flower, 1.5-2.5 × to 2 cm, cylindric in fruit; verticillasters dense, pilose, secund, 4-6 flowered; bracts broadly ovate, 3-4 × 4-5 mm, adaxially glabrous, margin entire, ciliate, apex subulate-mucronate. Pedicel ca. 0.5 mm. Calyx tubular, ca. 1.5 mm, pilose, glandular outside; teeth subequal, lanceolate-triangular, nearly as long as calyx tube, apex spinescent. Corolla white to purple, ca. 7 mm, pilose outside, glabrous inside, throat ca. 2 mm wide; upper lip emarginate; lower lip ± patent, middle lobe entire or emarginate; lateral lobes semicircular, margin entire. Stamens much exserted. Style ca. as long as stamens. Nutlets chestnut brown, oblong, pubescent. Fl. and fr. Oct-Dec.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Myanmar]

Riverbanks, forests, valleys, wet areas; 1200-2800 m.

Elshotzia kachinensis var. petiolata Sun ex C. H. Hu.