Nepeta discolor Royle ex Benth.

Herbs perennial. Stems slender, ascending, gray pubes-cent. Leaves short petiolate, broadly ovate to ovate-cordate, ca. 1.2 × 1 cm, occasionally to 2.2 × 2 cm, densely puberulent, adaxially green, abaxially gray, with yellowish glands, base subcordate, margin crenate, apex obtuse. Spikes ovoid or cylindric, continuous or basally interrupted, 3-5.5 cm; bracts oblong-linear, spiny, as long as calyx, ciliate. Flowers sessile. Calyx ca. 8 mm, pubescent; tube ca. 4 mm, throat oblique; teeth awned-lanceolate, ca. as long as tube, posterior teeth slightly longer, margin densely white villous. Corolla purple, glabrous or slightly villous on upper lip, ca. 1.4 cm; tube slender, ca. 1 cm, throat to 2.5 mm wide. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Turkestan, Afghanistan, W. Pakistan, Chitral, Himalaya (Kashmir to Nepal), India, Tibet.

Xizang [Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan].

3300-5000 m

Grassy or gravelly slopes, forests, thickets; 3600-4300 m.

Nepeta discolor is a low-growing species of catnip that is commonly found in the alpine (Himalayas) and temperate regions of Xizang (Tibet) in China; Garhwal division, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Uttar Pradesh in India; Afghanistan; Pakistan; and Nepal. The species is named after the color of the leaves. It was described in 1833.