Erect, hairy subshrub up to 30cm with ascending, cobwebby branches. Leaves narrow and spreading, sparsely toothed, 10-25mm x 1-3mm, bracts woolly below; flowers in elongate spikes, white, 13-15mm long, calyx lobes narrow and ciliate.

Greek: leptos = thin; stachys = ear of corn, a spike; -ium = diminutive: referring to the slender, small flower spike