MINT FAMILY. Labiatae. 



one two-cleft, and the lower, three-cleft ; the deep green 

 leaves, scalloped and rather heart-shaped, are often 

 stained with magenta, as well as the stem ; the latter 

 takes root at the joints, and reaches out sometimes fully 

 18 inches. Me., south to Ga., and west to Minn., Neb., 

 and Kan. 



A bitter perennial herb, not aromatic, 

 Skullcap with two-lipped tubular flowers, the four 



Scutellaria stamens located under the upper lip, which 

 laterifiora i s arched. Name from scutella, a dish, in 



Pale purple allusion to the peculiar hump on the upper 

 July-August , . . 



section of the green calyx, which, how- 

 ever, does not even remotely suggest the shape of a dish. 

 The little flowers, about a quarter of an inch long, light 

 or pale purple (rarely white), are borne in succession 

 along the delicate stems which terminate the branches 

 or spring from between leaf-stem and plant-stem. The 

 flpw^ers borne on one side of the stem which later is dec- 

 orated with the odd little hoodlike green calyxes con- 

 taining four white seeds. Plant-stem smooth, square, 

 and sometimes slightly twisted, upright and much 

 branched. Leaves narrowly ovate, veiny, coarse-toothed, 

 pointed, rounded at the base, and slender-stemmed. 1-2 

 feet high. Common in damp and shady places, through- 

 out the country The Scutellarias are fertilized by the 

 smaller bees, Halictus, and the leaf-cutter bee, MegacMle. 

 Scutellaria Light violet flowers almost an inch long, 



versicolor the whitish lower lip sometimes purple- 



Light violet stained. Leaves heart-shaped, very veiny, 

 July-August roug h, round-toothed, rather blunt, and 

 long-stemmed. Plant-stem soft-hairy. 1-3 feet high. 

 Banks of streams, Pa. ? south, and west to Minn, and 

 Ark, 



Scutellaria Flower an inch long, narrow, and its 



serrata upper lip only a trifle shorter than the 



Light violet lower one. Leaves ovate or long-ovate, 

 May-June toothed, tapering at both ends, and smooth. 

 Green and nearly smooth, slender plant-stem, 1-2 feet 

 high. In woods, southern N. Y. and Pa., south to N. 

 Car., and west to 111. The most showy of all the genus. 



402 



