LABIATE 



LABIATE MINT FAMILY 



Scutellaria galericulata, L. 



Blue-violet Marsh Skull-cap, 



European Skull-cap, 

 July- August Hooded Willow-herb. 



Scutellaria: from Latin for a dish, in allusion to the shape 



of the fruiting calyx. 

 Galericulata: from Latin for helmet because of the shape 



of the flower. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: borders of ponds. 



THE PLANT: erect, branched; stem one foot to two feet 

 high; without hairs or slightly downy, four-angled. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; ovate-lanceolate to oblong; 

 slightly downy above, decidedly so beneath; acute at the 

 apex; rounded and slightly heart-shaped at the base; 

 short-petioled or the upper sessile; serrate. 



THE FLOWERS: solitary, in the axils of the upper leaves, 

 about one inch long, with a long tube. 



THE FRUIT: nutlets, resembling a skull-cap. 



The delicate blue of these flowers, en masse, among the 

 soft, feathery grasses of a pond's edge, with the deep blue 

 water just visible beyond, presents a characteristic Nan- 

 tucket picture. This is one of the largest flowered of the 

 Mint Family that has been described here, and is interest- 

 ing in that the solitary flower is borne at the junction of 

 the leaf and flower stem. 



Not an official drug remedy, but considered by many 

 people an antidote for the bite of a mad dog. 



326 



