[5] The species epithet palustris is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.

[7] Marsh woundwort is a perennial plant growing from a horizontal tuberous runner.

It has square stems with opposite pairs of leaves that are almost stalkless, linearly lanceolate, slightly cordate at the base and toothed.

Its typical habitat is near the shore of lakes, in marshes with alder trees, on the banks of ditches and streams, in damp meadows, in arable ground and in waste places.

It also spreads vegetatively by means of hollow tuberous root which can throw up shoots far from the original plant.