Plants in the genus Teucrium are perennial herbs or shrubs with four-cornered stems, often with simple hairs and sessile glands.

The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, simple or with three leaflets sometimes with lobed or serrated edges.

The flowers have five more or less similar sepals fused at the base, and the corolla is white or cream-coloured with five lobes forming two lips.

[8][9] The name Teucrium was used by Pedanius Dioscorides for several species in this genus, and is believed to refer to King Teucer of Troy who used the plant in his medicine.

[12] †Teucrium pripiatense seed fossils have been described from the Pliocene Borsoni Formation in the Rhön Mountains of central Germany.