MINT FAMILY. Labiatae. 



This is common and vanes in appear- 

 Common Hedge , . ., 11- 



Nettle ance, being often a coarse-looking weed, 



St&chys bull&ta but sometimes the flowers are pretty. 

 Pink, purple The rough, hairy stem is about a foot tall, 

 Spring, summer the wr j n kled leaves are soft and more or 

 Wash., Oreg., Cal. , , - _ 



less hairy, and the flowers are about half 



an inch long, usually pale purplish-pink or purple, streaked 

 and specked with deeper color, but are sometimes bright 

 pink and then the long clusters are quite effective, growing 

 in the road-side hedges. The plant is aromatic when 

 crushed. 



There are many kinds of Scutellaria, widely distributed; 

 bitter herbs, some shrubby, with blue or lilac flowers; the 

 calyx with two lips, the upper one with a protuberance on 

 its back; the corolla smooth inside, the upper lip arched, 

 Bometimes notched, the lower lip more or less three-lobed; 

 the stamens four, under the lip, all with anthers, the upper 

 pair hairy. The curious helmet-shaped calyx, in which the 

 seeds are generally enclosed at maturity, suggests the 

 common names, Skullcap and Helmet-flower. 



A pleasing plant, from six inches to 



ScutMdtria over a ^ oot ta ^ not arornat i c ^th almost 



angusiifdlia smooth leaves, most of them toothless. 



Blue The flowers are pretty, though not striking, 



Spring, summer { f th j of th k 



Cal., Oreg., Wash. 



with a purplish-blue corolla, nearly an 



inch long, with a white tube, the lower lip woolly inside. 

 The calyx is curiously shaped and after the flower drops 

 off resembles a tiny green bonnet. When these little 

 calyxes are pinched from the sides they open their mouths 

 and show the seeds inside. This is quite common through- 

 out the Sierras. S. antirrhinoides is similar, growing in 

 Utah and the Northwest. S. Calif ornica has cream -white 

 flowers, less than an inch long, the lower lip hairy inside, 

 and downy leaves, narrow at base, the lower leaves pur- 

 plish on the under side and more or less toothed, the upper 



446 



