It is found throughout southern and central Europe from the United Kingdom and east as far as temperate parts of Asia, and as south as North Africa.

The lipped flowers are also larger and darker, with the corolla lobe at least twice as long as the hairy calyx.

This perennial rhizomatous herbaceous hemicryptophyte plant has stalked leaves and an erect hairy stem with tall flowering spikes.

Its range extends from France and Germany south to Spain and Algeria, and it also known from Northern Syria.

[9] In Britain, it is limited to a single site in the Isle of Wight, where it grows in ancient deciduous woodland on a chalk soil.

ascendens occurs on dry, calcareous soils in hedges, roadsides, grasslands and rocky grounds.

It can be added to cough medicine, often in combination with yarrow (Achillea millefolium) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris).