PLANT: Biennial or perennial taprooted herbs, pubescent; stems erect, single or branched freely from crown. LEAVES: long‑petiolate; blades obovate or elliptic to linear‑lanceolate; margins palmately 3‑5‑lobed or cleft, coarsely toothed. INFLORESCENCE: verticillate, interrupted; bracts leafy. FLOWERS: sessile; calyx zygomorphic, enlarging slightly in fruit, the lobe apices spinose or aristate; corolla zygomorphic, 2‑lipped, the tube equaling or shorter than calyx, the upper lip entire and slightly concave, the lower lip 3‑lobed; stamens 4, held alongside upper lip, the anther sacs parallel with none abortive; ovary sessile, lobed to base; stigma evenly 2‑lobed. NUTLETS: obconic, smooth except apex densely hairy. x = 9, 10. NOTES: 12 spp.; Eurasian. (Greek: leon = lion + oura = tail). REFERENCES: Christy, Charlotte M. Lamiaceae. 2003. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 35(2).