Perennial, much-branched, leafy shrub, woody at the base, densely spreading glandular-pubescent, 30–100 cm tall, with a pleasant or sometimes acrid aroma. Leaves are 1.5–4 cm long, petiolate, bipinnate, and deeply dissected into short, oblong-linear lobules. Flowers are arranged in dense, unbranched or paniculate, terminal spikes of two-flowered verticillasters. Bracts are ovate and acuminate, shorter than the calyx. Calyx is tubular, becoming ovoid in fruit, with triangular-dentate lobes. Corolla is deep blue, with the tube exserted up to two times the length of the calyx and bent outward above it. Flowers have two pairs of unequal-length stamens and style branches flat. Fruits are dark brown, oblong nutlets, about 1.7 mm long and 1 mm wide, with small (<1 mm) tubercles.