Plants aromatic,unisexual shrubs, 30-150 cm tall. Young branches pubescent and glandular. Leaves petiolate; petioles 4-10(-22) mm long; blades ovate, elliptic-oblong, to almost round,8-35(-48) mm long, 5-25(-38) mm wide, bases cuneate to truncate or subcordate, margins closely crenate-serrate, tips rounded, surfaces pubescent and densely glandular, particularly the lower surfaces, upper with impressed veins. Inflorescences spikes, solitary, axillary, pedunculate, about 5 mm long, 7 mm wide; 10-50 cm long. Staminate spikes and flowers: peduncles 1-3 mm long; bracts lanceolate to ovate, 3-4 mm long, 1-2 mm wide; calyces about 1 mm long, 2-lobed; corollas white, sometimes with a yellow centre, tubes 3-3.5(04) mm long; ovaries rudimentary. Pistillate spikes and flowers: peduncles 4-6(-10) mm long; bracts ovate to rounded, 4-7 mm lon, 5-10 mm wide, bases cordate; corolla tubes 1.7-2.6 mm long; stamens rudimentary. Infructescences becoming 1-2 cm long, the enlarged calyces covering the fruits; fruits dry, compressed-globose, about 3 mm long, separating into 2 nutlets at maturity.
Lippia carviodora grows in deciduous to evergreen bushland in sandy soil or in rocky places and on gypsum at 60-1340 m. It is known from region N1-3m C1,2 of ithe Flora of Somalia and Djibouti, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya. It is used to flavor ghee.