Erect perennial 1-2 m tall with slowly spreading rhizomes. Leaves extremely variable but mostly sharply toothed, rarely entire. Flower clusters erect, spike-like. Flowers with calyx tube to about 5 mm long, expanding to about 1 cm in fruit. Corolla variously white, pink, violet to reddish mauve, generally with purple markings; summer to autumn.
N America
A selection of available colour and habit cultivars is listed under the Cultivar tab.
Source: (2002). Origanum. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Flowers white.
Physostegia virginiana 'Bouquet Rose'
To over 1m tall. Flowers lilac-pink. [P. 'Rose Bouquet']
Physostegia virginiana 'Crown Of Snow'
Flowers in dense spikes, large, white. [P. 'Snow Crown', P. 'Schneekrone']
Physostegia virginiana 'Rosea'
Flowers pink.
Physostegia virginiana 'Summer Snow'
Lower-growing, with white flowers. [P. 'Snow Queen']
Physostegia virginiana 'Vivid'
Flowers dark pink.