It grows up to 6,000 ft (1800 m) elevation in broad-leaved and coniferous forests, meadows, and on steep banks.

It was named after Finnish explorer and naturalist Peter Forsskål, a student of Carl Linnaeus who collected plants in southwest Arabia in the 18th century.

The plant grows into large basal clumps 2 ft (0.6 m) tall and wide, with hairy leaves that are parsley-green in spring, turning dark green in summer.

[3] The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 work Mantissa Plantarum where he spelt the epithet forskaehlei.

[4] In the 12th edition of Systema Naturae, also published in 1767, Linnaeus spelt the epithet forskohlei,[5] although referring back to Mantissa Plantarum.