Plans herbs or subshrubs, usually with unbranched hairs, rarely with branched hairs. Inflorescences thyrse- or raceme-like, usually well spaced; bracts smaller and usually distinct from the leaves; cymes with 1-3 flowers, almost sessile; bracteoles usually absent, rarely present. Calyces 5-lobed, open or closed in fruit, tubes glabrous or strongly hairy inside the mouth, upper lobe much wider than the others, more or less concave and decurrrent along the upper third of the tube or more or less the same wide as the other lobes, lateral lobes variously shaped, lower lobes as long as or longer than the lateral lobes; corollas 4-5 lobed, scarcely 2-lipped ot 2-lipped with a 2-lobed upper lip and 3-lobed lower lip, lobes flat or shallowly concave; stamens inserted in the distal part of the corolla tube, nor or only very shortly protruding beyond its mouth; filaments very short or reduced; anthers 1-celled; styles scarcely protrudingm with a bacal swelling just above the ovary; branches 2, short. Nutlets ovoid to oblong, glabrous or pubescent at the top.
Endostemon includes about 20 species. It is native to Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and India.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.