L abiatcz Scuiellaria. 365 



dense bracteate spikes or heads of flowers, in which the upper 

 lip of the corolla is large and concave, nearly equalling the 

 four stamens. 



6. SCUTELLARIA. 



Slender herbs or more rarely shrubby, with simple leaves. 

 Flowers axillary and solitary or geminate, or terminal and spicate 

 or racemose. Calyx bilabiate, lips entire, ultimately closing over 

 the fruit, and the upper one furnished with a helmet-shaped 

 appendage which enlarges as the fruit is advancing towards 

 maturity. Corolla-tube long, curved, dilated at the throat, naked 

 within ; upper lip entire or notched ; lateral lobes of the 

 lower lip usually connected with the upper, the central one 

 spreading. Stamens 4 ; anthers cohering in pairs. A large 

 genus, abundant in America, and scattered throughout the 

 northern temperate regions. The genus is represented by two 

 species in Britain, S. galericulata and S. minor ; the former, 

 common in England, has blue flowers ; and the latter is a rather 

 rare plant of very slender habit, with small pale pink flowers. 

 They are known under the popular name Skull-cap. The generic 

 name is from scutella, a dish, in reference to the form of the 

 calycinal appendage. 



1. S. macrdntha. A pretty perennial, usually less than a 

 foot high. Leaves lanceolate, obtuse, eiliate. Flowers showy, 

 violet-blue, in alternate axillary pairs, produced throughout 

 the Summer. A native of Siberia. 



2. S. alplna. Of about the same stature as the last, with 

 nearly sessile ovate-cordate toothed hairy leaves. Flowers in 

 dense terminal spikes, wholly purple, or the lower lip of the 

 corolla white or yellowish. A native of the mountainous parts 

 of Europe and Asia, producing its flowers freely all the 

 Summer. 



3. S. Japonica. A creeping species with obovate-spathulate. 

 leaves narrowed towards the base into a short petiole. Flowers 

 in terminal spikes, bright blue or white. A profuse blooming 

 plant from Japan. 



S. villosa, from tha Andes of Peru, has dense terminal spikes 

 of showy scarlet flowers, and is rather tender. There are 

 several other interesting hardy species, but the greenhouse 

 species from Mexico greatly exceed them in the size and 

 brilliancy of tl eir flowers. 



