BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 
range from Maine to Florida, and west through 
Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri and Texas. 
MAD-DOG. SKULLCAP. MADWEED. 
HOODWORT 
Scutellaria latersflora. Mint Family. 
A well-known, perennial herb, formerly esteemed as a 
remedy in dog-bites. It was also used as a family 
medicine for nervous disorders of every description 
This species grows commonly in moist, shady places. 
along ditches and ponds, where it raises its slender. 
smooth, square, leafy, and much-branched stalk a 
foot or two high. ‘The thin, coarsely toothed, slender- 
stemmed leaves are pointed oblong to lance shaped, 
and are arranged in opposite alternating pairs. The 
several or many small, tubular, blue flowers are two 
lipped. The upper lip is arched and the spreading 
lower one is notched at the apex. The two-lipped 
calyx has a small, helmet-like appendage on the upper 
lip, which is an easy means for identifying the genus. 
The flowers spring from the axils of the uppermost 
leaves, on one-sided, terminal branches, from July: to 
September. This species ranges from coast to coast, 
and from the British possessions south to Florida, 
New Mexico and Washington. 
CATNIP. CATMINT. NEP 
Népeta Cataria. Mint Family. 
Country folks who have drifted to the great cities will 
never forget how Aunt Kate or Aunt Sue used to soothe 
352 
