Fls solitary or in spikes or racemes. Calyx with entire lips, upper with dorsal scale. Corolla-tube elongate, dilated towards 2-lipped limb; upper lip entire, lower 3-lobed. Anthers ciliolate; lower 1-celled, upper 2-celled. Nutlets small. Annual to perennial herbs or subshrubs. A widespread genus of some 250 spp., the N.Z. sp. endemic.

Usually herbs, sometimes small shrubs, not aromatic, sometimes rhizomatous. Lvs simple, entire to pinnatisect. Fls axillary, one to each opposite lf in upper axils or in terminal spikes or racemes. Bracts large and leaflike or reduced. Calyx 2-lipped; tube campanulate, not gibbous at base; upper lip with broad scale or scutellum which is eventually deciduous; lower lip persistent. Corolla tube usually > limb, often curved upwards, glabrous or ± hairy inside; limb 2-lipped. Stamens didynamous and parallel, lying beneath upper lip. Style gynobasic, its branches unequal. Nutlets subglobose or flattened, often granular or tuberculate.