The purple blue flowers are in whorls in the terminal spike. The calyx has 5 teeth, split between an upper and lower lip. The upper lip has 4 of the teeth. The stem leaves are in pairs clasping the stem. Each pair at about 90 degrees to the last and toothed.

Photograph the whole plant in habitat, with detailed photos of flower heads. (RPR)

Grassland, bare ground, roadsides, dunes and slacks.

May to August.

Perennial.

Local in central and southern England and Wales, rare elsewhere.

Scarce in Leicestershire and Rutland.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 3 of the 617 tetrads, and in 2 tetrads in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971).

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) as Locally Scarce (i.e. present in 4-10 sites)