Genus 4. 



MINT FAMILY. 



o5 



1. Trichostema dichotomum L. Blue Curls. Bastar 



Trichostema dichotomum L. Sp. PI. 598. 1753. 



Annual, minutely viscid-pubescent; stem slen- 

 der, rather stiff, much branched, 6'-2 high, the 

 branches spreading or ascending. Leaves oblong" 

 or oblong-lanceolate, membranous, obtuse or sub- 

 acute at the apex, narrowed at the base into short 

 petioles, 1/-3' long, 3"-lo" wide, the upper grad- 

 ually smaller ; flowers paniculate, 6' -9" long, 

 borne 1-3 together on 2-bracteolate peduncles; 

 calyx oblique, very unequally 5-lobed, the 3 upper 

 lobes much longer and more united than the 2 

 lower ones; corolla blue, pink or rarely nearly 

 white, the limb longer than the tube; stamens 

 blue or violet. 



In dry fields, Maine to Florida, Vermont, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Missouri and Texas. The lateral flowers be- 

 come inverted by torsion of the pedicels. July-Oct. 



2. Trichostema lineare Nutt. Narrow-leaved 

 Blue Curls. Fig. 3574. 



T. brachiatum Lam. Encycl. 8: 84. 1808. Not L. 1753. 

 Trichostema lineare Nutt. Gen. 2: 39. 1818. 



Puberulent or glabrous, not viscid or scarcely so ; 

 stem very slender, at length widely branched, 6'-i8' 

 high, the branches ascending. Leaves linear, obtuse 

 or subacute, sessile or very short-petioled, -2' long, 

 1 "-2" wide, sometimes with smaller ones or short 

 leafy branches in their axils ; flowers very similar to 

 those of the preceding species, sometimes larger. 



In sandy fields and dry pine barrens, Connecticut to 

 Georgia and Louisiana, mostly near the coast. July-Aug. 



5. SCUTELLARIA [Rivin.] L. Sp. PI. 598. 1753. 

 Annual or perennial bitter herbs, some species shrubby. Flowers blue to violet, in 

 terminal or axillary bracted mostly secund spike-like racemes, or solitary or 2-3 together in 

 the axils. Calyx campanulate, gibbous, 2-lipped, the lips entire, the upper one with a crest or 

 protuberance upon its back and often deciduous in fruit, the lower one persistent. Corolla 

 much exserted, recurved-ascending, dilated above into the throat, glabrous within, the limb 

 2-lipped ; upper lip arched, entire or emarginate ; lower lip spreading or deflexed, its lateral 

 lobes small and somewhat connected with the upper, its middle lobe broad, sometimes emar- 

 ginate, the margins mostly recurved. Stamens 4, didynamous, all anther-bearing, ascending 

 under the upper lip, the upper pair somewhat the shorter, their anthers 2-celled, ciliate; 

 anthers of the lower pair of stamens i-celled, also ciliate. Style unequally 2-cleft at the 

 apex; ovary deeply 4-parted. Nutlets subglobose or depressed, papillose or tuberculate, borne 

 on a short or elongated gynobase. [Latin, a dish, from the appendage to the fruiting calyx.] 

 About 100 species of wide geographic distribution. Besides the following, some 15 others 

 occur in the southern and western parts of North America, all known as Skullcap, or Helmet- 

 flower. Type species : Scutellaria peregrlna L. 



* Nutlets wingless, very slightly elevated on the short gynobase. 

 Flowers 3" 5" long, in axillary and sometimes terminal secund racemes. 

 Flowers 6"-is" long, in terminal often panicled racemes. 

 Plant glabrous or very nearly so ; leaves broad. 

 Plants pubescent, puberulent or pilose. 



Leaves all except the floral crenate or dentate, broad. 

 Canescent, not glandular ; corolla canescent. 

 Densely glandular-pubescent ; corolla puberulent. 

 Pubescent below, glandular above ; corolla nearly glabrous. 

 Leaves all except the lowest entire, narrow. 

 Flowers solitary in the axils or sometimes also in terminal bracted racemes. 

 Perennial from a thick woody root. 

 Fibrous-rooted; perennial by rootstocks or stolons. 

 Flowers 2"-i," long. 

 Flowers S"-I3" long. 



5\ lateriflora. 

 S. serrata. 



3. S. incana. 



4. 5. cordifolia. 



5. S. pilosa. 



6. 5 1 . integrifolia. 



7. S. resinosa. 



8. 5". parvula. 



