6 Scutellaria hyssopifolia. 



Whole plant covered with a dense, short down, obscuring the 

 vividness of the green. Root perennial, branched, fibrous. Stem 

 from eight inches to two feet high, four-sided, often simple, but 

 mostly very much hranched above ; branches opposite, erect, each 

 terminating in a loose raceme, garnished with small leaves. Leaves 

 lanceolate-oblong, obtuse, attenuated at base ; those at the root 

 ovate, with an obscure tooth or two, and distinctly petiolated. The 

 first and second, and occasionally the third pairs of the stem, very en- 

 tire, sub-petiolated, the petiole being somewhat winged by continua- 

 tion of the margin of the leaf. The upper stem-leaves closely sessile. 

 The branch-leaves linear and sessile, all obtuse, entire, opposite, 

 situated in pairs on the alternate sides of the quadrangular stem, 

 and covered with a multitude of dots beneath. Corolla densely in- 

 vested with down, campanula-purple, having a white, confluent, 

 divided spot on the lower lip of the palate. Stamens flax-blue, with 

 purple, globose anthers ; pistil blue, with a round stigma, all arcu- 

 ate, retaining the arch of the upper lip and tube of the corolla. 

 Flowers numerous, borne in long, loose, leafy, terminal racemes. 

 Calix covered with fine down, gaping to receive the tube of the 

 corolla, and crowned with a concave appendage, as is common to 

 the genus; small during inflorescence, but subsequently enlarging 

 until the fruit become mature. Seeds small, black, irregularly round- 

 ish, and exteriorly corrugated. Inhabits wet, low grounds, meadows 

 and hogs, from New York to Carolina. Flowers in July and August. 



The plant just described is the finest of the American species of 

 the genus. No one who has seen a single individual of this tribe in 



