[16] The Vietnamese names for the plant include chuỳ hoa bắc bộ and cơm nếp.

[23] The herb can also be mixed with slaked lime for betel nut chewing or added to tobacco to make those strong flavors more palatable.

[24] S. tonkinensis appears related to S. maculatus, but has much larger flowers, leaves, and bracts; as well as having denser trichomes.

[2] When the chloroplast genome was sequenced, it was compared to other species within Acanthaceae and the below maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree was produced.

[8] Strobilanthes batonensis Strobilanthes cusia Strobilanthes tonkinensis Echinacanthus attenuatus Echinacanthus lofouensis Echinacanthus longipes Echinacanthus longzhouensis Dicliptera acuminata Dicliptera peruviana Dictiptera montana Dicliptera ruiziana Dicliptera mucronata Justicia flava Justicia adhatoda Justicia leptostachya Rungia pectinata Clinacanthus nutans Andrographis paniculata Barleria prionitis Acanthus ilicifolius Acanthus ebracteatus Blepharis ciliaris Aphelandra knappiae Avicennia marina Ginkgo biloba The plant is herbaceous with a woody base and shrubby, roughly four-sided, pubescent branches.

[7] The leaves are ~23×12 cm or a little smaller and egg-shaped, starting wide and narrowing quickly to the acuminate apex (tip).

[27] S. tonkinensis has white flowers that are opposite, arising from pedunculate, tomentose spikelets in the upper axils.

[29] The plant can typically be found in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests at 200–1500 m in elevation in Vietnam, Thailand, China (Yunnan and Guangxi),[7] Laos,[30] Indonesia (Sumatra),[27] and Myanmar (Chin State and Tanintharyi Region).

[16] The type was found by Benjamin Balansa in Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) in the forests of the Ba Vì mountain range at 400 m in elevation.

[1] Dried S. tonkinensis leaves contains abundant minerals and trace elements, particularly high levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

[9] Additionally, it contains essential trace elements such as iron, copper, manganese, and zinc, which are necessary for human health.