450 THE MINT FAMILY. 



tionable. Certainly, however, in spite of these pros and cons a number of 

 its little sprigs together make a most fascinating and odd looking bouquet. 

 To the many bolder plants of the early autumn they form also a strong con- 

 trast. The generic name from the Greek is in allusion to the slender fila- 

 ments. 



SHOWY SKULLCAP. 



Scutellaria se?'?-dla. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mint. Blue. Scentless. North Carolina and Kentucky May, June. 



to New York and westward. 



Flowers: showy, growing opposite each other in bracted, terminal racemes. 

 Calyx: campanulate, two-lipped; the upper lip with a protuberance or cap on its 

 back. Corolla : two-lipped, inflated, the upper lip shorter, arched or helmet- 

 shaped, the lower one spreading and reflexed ; lateral lobes attached to the upper 

 lip. Stamens: four, concealed in the upper lip. Pistil: one. Leaves: ovate, or 

 elliptical pointed at the apex and tapering at the base into the margined, pubescent 

 petiole, dentate ; deep green above ; lighter below ; thin ; slightly pubescent. Stem : 

 one to two feet high; erect ; simple or branched, leafy, glabrous below, pubescent 

 above. 



Through woodlands or often where bright streams spirt out from the hill- 

 sides, we have a good chance of finding some member at least of this un- 

 usually attractive group of mints, and among all of whose American species 

 this one is possibly the most beautiful. In the little cap, or helmet-like ap- 

 pendage which closes down over the mouth of the calyx they possess a quaint 

 characteristic, its purpose being possibly to prevent the escape of the seeds 

 while they are ripening, although the plant is sometimes deciduous. As 

 soon as they have reached maturity the cap usually falls and allows the 

 seeds to drop out at their will. 



S. cordifblia, heart-leaved skullcap, is also a showy plant with lively-look- 

 ing blue flowers borne in densely glandular-pubescent panicles or simple 

 racemes. In fact, nearly the whole plant is pubescent and the corolla even 

 marked with short hairs. From Florida it hardly extends further northward 

 than Pennsylvania, growing usually along the streams' borders and through 

 light, open woodlands. 



S. montdfta {Plate CXLIX) presents to us a species described by Dr. 

 Chapman and one exclusively of the south where it grows through the 

 mountainous woods and fields of Georgia. Of its rather large blue flowers 

 the lower lip quite rivals the upper one in length, and in manner of growth 

 the plant is simple and covered with a soft pubescence. 



S.pilbsa, hairy skullcap, while flourishing over quite an extended range, 

 appears to grow most luxuriantly in the high mountains of the AUeghanies, 

 although with a range extending from Florida and Texas to New York and 

 Michigan. It is in any place, however, a most graceful member of the genus. 



