Phyllostegia hispida, a member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family, is a loosely spreading, many-branched vine that often forms large, tangled masses. Leaves are thin and rough with firm, stiff hairs and glands. The leaf margins are irregularly and shallowly lobed. Six to eight white flowers make up each verticillaster (a false whorl, composed of a pair of nearly sessile cymes [a flat-topped or round-topped flower cluster]) in the axils of opposite leaves or bracts, and nutlets are approximately 2.5 mm (0.1 in) long.