Elshotsholtzia is a perennial herbaceous plant, 30 to 50 centimeters tall, with a strong aroma. The stems are erect, square, usually brownish-red, and densely covered with grayish-white curly pilose hairs. Leaves are opposite, broadly lanceolate to lanceolate, 2.3 to 3.5 centimeters long, 3 to 5 centimeters wide, apex acute or obtuse, base broadly cuneate, margins sparsely serrate, dark green and densely white villous above, light green and densely glandular punctate below, sparsely pilose along the main veins. Verticillasters densely spikelike, terminal and axillary; bracts green, broadly obovate, apices acute, bases attenuate, entire, both surfaces villous and glandular dotted, margins pubescent, with 5 conspicuous longitudinal veins; calyx 5-lobed, lobes triangular-lanceolate; corolla labiate, light reddish-purple, upper lip bilamellate, lower lip 3-lobed, middle lobe rectangular, both lobes slightly triangular; stamens 4, dichotomous; anthers yellow, filaments inserted above middle of corolla tube; pistil 1, ovary superior, style linear, longer than stamens, stigma 2-dichotomous. Nutlets 4, subovoid, brown, enclosed in persistent calyx. Flowering in September, fruiting in October.