This species is an aromatic annual or short-lived perennial woody herb tall, with a taproot. The stems are erect, much branched, woody at the base, and rounded to weakly four-angled, sometimes forming low cushions. They are pubescent with mostly forward-pointing hairs, occasionally spreading. The leaves are borne on short stalks, with narrowly elliptic to obovate blades long. The surfaces are hairy and dotted with sessile glands. The margins are
crenate, with rounded to blunt tips and wedge-shaped to shortly narrowed bases. The
inflorescence is lax, with whorls of usually six flowers spaced apart; the lowest internode is much shorter than those above. The bracts are leaf-like or smaller, erect near the apex and spreading below. The
calyx is long at flowering and densely hairy with sessile glands, enlarging to in fruit. The
corolla is purplish, long, with a short, straight tube and four lobes, the uppermost broader and often notched. The fruit consists of smooth, brown nutlets about long, which produce mucilage when wetted. ==Distribution and habitat==