LABIATAE 



MINT FAMILY 



MARSH SKULLCAP 



Scutellaria galerictilata 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 

 i-iyi 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 i 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. 



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