Clinopodium chinense

Clinopodium chinense is a perennial aromatic herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae) native to China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Taiwan, where it grows in grassy slopes, woodland margins, and along streambanks from low elevations to about 1,500 meters. Plants reach approximately 0.3 to 0.6 meters in height, with slender, four-angled, retrorsely pubescent stems arising from a creeping rhizome and branching above. The leaves are opposite, ovate, 2 to 4 centimeters long and 1 to 2.5 centimeters wide, with shallowly serrate margins, a rounded to broadly cuneate base, and a short petiole; both surfaces are softly hairy and dotted with sessile oil glands. The inflorescence consists of dense axillary verticillasters that aggregate into terminal head-like cymes subtended by linear bracts. The small bilabiate flowers are pale pink to rose-purple, 8 to 12 millimeters long, with a tubular two-lipped calyx clothed in long white hairs and a hooded upper lip and three-lobed lower lip on the corolla. Flowering occurs from August to September. The crushed foliage emits a sweet, basil-thyme-like aroma.