LABIATAE MINT FAMILY 
MARSH SKULLCAP 
Scutellaria galericulata L. 
Skullcaps are readily recognized by the hump on the back 
of the calyx. They differ strikingly from most members of the 
family in that they entirely lack the characteristic Mint odor 
and their flowers are for the most part 
a beautiful blue. 
The Marsh Skullcap is one of our com- 
monest species and is quite easily culti- 
vated. It grows in swamps and along 
streams from Newfoundland to Alaska and 
south to North Carolina, Ohio and Arizona. 
It is perennial by very slender stolons. 
The erect stem is square, usually 
branched and 1-3 feet high. The thin ob- 
long-lanceolate to ovate-oblong leaves are 
1-2% inches long, short petioled or the 
upper sessile, and low toothed or the upper 
entire. 
Solitary flowers are produced in the leaf 
axils from June to September. 
The calyx is 2-lipped, both lips 
being entire. The blue corolla 
has a slender tube with a slightly 
enlarged throat and is 2-lipped 
at the end. The upper lip is 
arched over the 4 stamens and 
the lower lip is spreading and 3- 
lobed, the middle lobe much the 
largest. The ovary is deeply 
4-parted and the style is un- 
equally 2-cleft at the apex. 
The Heart-leaved Skullcap, Scutellaria versicolor Nutt., is another 
species in Illinois, growing in wet shaded places. All but the upper- 
most leaves are heart shaped, coarsely toothed and with slender 
petioles. The flowers are in a terminal raceme instead of being 
axillary, and bloom from June to August. The corolla is about 1 inch 
long and covered with very short hairs, and is blue but with the under 
side much lighter or even white. This Skullcap frequents woods and 
thickets, especially along streams, from Pennsylvania to Florida and 
west to Minnesota and Texas. 
275 
