Litchi is an annual or biennial herb of Salvia in Labiatae. The taproot is thick and straight with fibrous roots. Stems erect, up to 90 cm tall, stout, multi-branched, leaves elliptic, oval or elliptic-lanceolate, edges crenate, teeth or sharp serrations, petioles herbaceous, abdomen concave and back convex, densely pilose. Globules, numerous, bracts lanceolate, longer or shorter than calyx; Entire, puberulent on both surfaces, pedicels and inflorescence rachis densely puberulent. Calyx bell-shaped, scattered with yellowish brown glandular spots, 2-lipped, with entire upper lip, corolla reddish, lavender, purple, blue-purple to blue, sparse white, 2-lipped crown, oblong upper lip, puberulent outside lower lip, largest in the middle, wide inverted heart-shaped, fertile stamens born at the base of lower lip, connective curved, upper arm and lower arm equal in length, style and corolla equal in length, front. The front of the disk is slightly convex. Nutlets are obovoid, flowering in April-May and bearing fruit in June-July.

In China, except Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet, it is produced all over the country. North Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia are also distributed. It grows on slopes, roadsides, ditches and wet soil at an altitude of 2800 meters.

The whole plant of litchi is widely used as medicine in China, which is used for traumatic injury, unknown swelling, influenza, sore throat, infantile convulsion, hematemesis, epistaxis, breast abscess, lymphadenitis, asthma, ascites swelling, nephritis edema, treating furuncle, hemorrhoid swelling, uterine prolapse, urethritis, hypertension, all pain and gastric cancer.