Japan Flora: Erect perennial with coarse hirsute stems; roots thick, purple-stained when dried; stems few, erect, 40-70 cm. long, many-leaved; leaves ascending, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, gradually narrowed to an obtuse tip, sessile, with few parallel nerves; inflorescence spikelike, with leaflike bracts; calyx-segments broadly linear, obtuse, longer than the corolla-tube; corolla white, 6-7 mm. long, about 4 mm. across, with shallow transverse appendages on the throat; nutlets gray-white, shining, smooth, about 3 mm. long, ovoid. June-July. Grassy slopes in mountains and hills.
Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu. Korea, Northeastern China, China, and Amur.