Shrubs and perennials, related to Salvia and Agastache. Often scented foliage and very valued for their spikes of tubular flowers, which can be flowering as late as November. For full sun, with shrubby forms being cut down by some cold winters, only to reappear again.
As with most members of the mint family, the tubular, two-lipped flowers are designed to restrict access to the nectar by specific groups/sizes of pollinators. Those of the mint-bushes are much visited by late-summer bumblebees and butterflies attracted to the numerous long flower-spikes.