SCUTELLARIA SPLENDENS. 
(Splendid -flowered Skullcap.) 
Class. 
DIDYNAMIA. 
Order. 
GYMNOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order- 
LABIATE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx campanulate, bilabiate ; 
lips entire, from the coalition of the sepals, closed after 
the falling of the corollas, and at length cleft even to 
the base : superior lip furnished with a dilated scale at 
top, which is concave above, falling away at maturity : 
lower lip permanent. Tube of corolla much exserted, 
naked inside, straight or usually recurvedly ascending 
beyond the calyx, dilated into the throat above; limb 
bilabiate, upper lip entire at the apex, or emarginate ; 
lower lip spreadingly dilated, convex, emarginate at the 
apex ; the lateral lobes sometimes free and spreading, 
but usually joined to the upper lip, rarely to the lower 
lip. Stamens four, ascending under the galea, didy- 
namous ; the two lower ones the longest. Anthers 
approximate by pairs, ciliated; those of the lower 
stamens dimidiate, and those of the superior stamens 
two-celled, cordate ; cells sub-divaricate. Superior lobe 
of the style very short ; lower one stigmatiferous at the 
top. Ovary oblique, elevated upon the incurved gyno- 
phore. Achenia dry, naked, tubercled, glabrous, or 
clothed with appressed tomentum. Don's Gard. and 
Botany. 
Specific Character.— Plant subshrubby. Leaves 
opposite, petiolate, broadly ovate, somewhat cordate at 
the base, rather acute, irregularlyjagged at the margins. 
Spike of flowers terminal, somewhat loose. Bracts 
minute. Corolla deep scarlet. 
At the nursery of Messrs. Henderson, Pine- Apple Place, where we obtained 
our drawing of this pretty species last summer, it flowered, apparently for the 
first time in England, during the autumn of 1841, and continued blooming 
throughout the whole of the winter, and the entire season of 1842. It is said 
to be a native of Mexico, and is one of the few examples of plants in the genus 
bearing scarlet flowers. 
It is a dwarf and compact-growing plant, apparently of an evergreen herba- 
ceous or subshrubby habit, and sending up numerous stems, from the tops of 
which the spikes of flowers proceed. These are of a rather loose elegant character, 
and the individual blossoms, though somewhat small, are of so splendid a deep 
scarlet tint that the plant is rendered attractive from this circumstance. 
As the plant at Messrs. Henderson's has been kept in a stove, which it may 
possibly be found not to require, there is a likelihood that its character will become 
even more dwarf and close, and the flowers be brought nearer to each other, 
thereby heightening their effect. They would doubtless also be of a yet richer 
tint in a cooler house. In its present state, however, the aspect of the plant is 
very pleasing, and its inflorescence is decidedly ornamental. 
