Her hair and eyes are purple and a lot of ribbons are tied to her hair and other body parts. Wears pajama-like clothing and a night-cap which are, according to ZUN, her daily wear.
Her first name, "Patchouli", is taken from name of a herb.
Even though Patchouli doesn't appear during gameplay in most games after Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, she often appears in some of the endings.
She's also known as the "One-week Wizard" or the "Wizard of the Week" due to her elemental magics coinciding with the days of the week on a Japanese calendar.