Ii6 LABIATAE. VOL. III. 



14. DRACOCEPHALUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PL 594. 1753. 



[PHYSOSTEGIA Benth. Lab. Gen. & Sp. 504. 1834.] 



Erect perennial glabrous or puberulent herbs, with serrate, dentate or entire leaves, and 

 large or middle-sized, bracted purple violet, pink or white flowers in terminal spikes, or 

 spike-like racemes. Calyx campanulate or oblong, membranous, swollen and remaining open 

 in fruit, faintly reticulate-veined and 10-nerved, equally 5-toothed. Corolla much longer than 

 the calyx, its tube gradually much enlarged upward, its limb strongly 2-lipped ; upper lip 

 concave, rounded, nearly or quite entire; lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, the middle lobe com- 

 monly emarginate. Stamens 4, didynamous, ascending under the upper lip of the corolla, the 

 lower pair the longer; filaments pubescent; anthers all alike, 2-celled, the sacs nearly parallel, 

 the margins of their valves commonly spinulose or denticulate. Ovary 4-parted. Nutlets 

 ovoid-triquetrous, smooth. [Greek, dragon-head.] 



About 7 species, natives of North America, known as False Dragon-head or Lion's-heart. 

 species : Dracocephalum virginianum L. 



Type 



Flowers 9" long, or more ; leaves firm. 



Spike dense, many-flowered. 



Spike loose, few-flowered ; leaf-serrations mostly blunt. 

 Flowers 5" 7" long ; leaves thin. 



Spike loose; 4'-8' long; leaves few and distant. 



Spike dense, :'-4' long; stem leafy. 



1. D. virginianum. 



2. D. denticulatum. 



3. D. intermedium. 



4. D. Nuttallii. 



i. Dracocephalum virginianum L. Dragon-head. Obedient Plant. Lion's 



Heart. Fig. 3599. 



Dracocephalum virginianum L. Sp. PI. 594. 1753. 



Dracocephalum speciosum Sweet, Brit. Fl. Card. 

 pi. 93. 1825. 



Physostegia virginiana Benth. Lab. Gen. & Sp. 

 504. 1834. 



Stem erect or ascending, rather stout, sim- 

 ple or branched above, i-4 tall. Leaves 

 firm, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or linear- 

 lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, sharply 

 serrate or serrulate, narrowed at the base, 

 the upper all sessile, 2'-s' long, 2" -7" wide, 

 the lowest petioled; bracts lanceolate, shorter 

 than the calyx; spikes dense, becoming 4'-8' 

 long in fruit, many-flowered ; flowering calyx 

 campanulate or somewhat turbinate, its teeth 

 ovate, acute, about one-half as long as the 

 tube; fruiting calyx oblong, 4"-5" long, the 

 teeth much shorter than the tube; corolla 

 pale purple or rose, about i' long, often var- 

 iegated with white, temporarily remaining in 

 whatever position it is placed. 



In moist soil, Quebec to Ontario, Minnesota, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Texas ; escaped 

 from gardens eastward. Races differ in width and serration of leaves and in size of flowers. 

 July-Sept. 



Physostegia Digitalis Small, with broadly oblong to elliptic repand or undulate leaves, of the 

 Southern States, perhaps extends northward into Missouri. 



