Perennial of the Lamiaceae family, this species is widely spread across Central and Eastern Europe, Siberia, and Central Asia, where it occupies dry meadows, rocky lawns, and sunny edges, on well-drained, often calcareous soils.
It forms upright and slender clumps 30 to 50 cm high. Its foliage is characteristic: the leaves are narrow, linear to lanceolate, dark green, almost reminiscent of rosemary, which sometimes earns it the vernacular name of rosemary-leaved dragonhead. The stems bear whorls of bilabiate flowers of a blue-violet to lavender blue, arranged in elongated and regular spikes. The lower lip is often paler, slightly spotted.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from June to August. In cultivation, it generally blooms in June-July.
It is one of the easiest species of the genus to cultivate: it appreciates a sunny exposure and well-drained soil, withstands summer drought, and naturally integrates into rock gardens, gravel gardens, or natural-style borders. Very melliferous, it attracts bees and bumblebees.