Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SMALL SKULLCAP

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Scutellaria parvula Michx.

Cherokee County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-14 inches

Family: Lamiaceae - Mint Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Stems:

Ascending to erect, simple or branched distally, glabrous or sparsely to densely eglandular-pubescent and sometimes with longer glandular hairs.

Leaves:

Cauline; mostly opposite; petiole 0-.5 inch; blade cordate to broadly ovate or lanceolate, .3 to .6 inch long, .12 to .66 inch wide, base cordate to rounded or truncate, margins entire, rarely with 1-2 teeth per side, apex rounded or acute, surfaces glabrous or sparsely to densely glandular-pubescent.

Inflorescences:

Axillary, flowers 1-2 per node; bracts ovate to lanceolate.

Flowers:

Calyx bilaterally symmetric, 2-lipped, campanulate, .08 to .14 inch, with distinct adaxial cap or protuberance; corolla blue with white-mottled abaxial lip, .28 to .5 inch, strongly 2-lipped, abaxial lip 3-lobed, medial lobe much larger than lateral lobes, adaxial lip entire or notched, hood-like; stamens 4, included, ascending under adaxial lip, filaments slightly arched; ovary deeply 4-lobed.

Fruits:

Schizocarps; mericarps 4, dark brown to black, obovoid to globose, .03 to .05 inch, prominently papillose in lines; seeds 1 per mericarp.

Habitat:

Tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies, rock outcrops, open oak-hickory woodlands.

Distribution:

Principally the east half of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Native Americans used small skullcap to treat dysentery

Comments:

Scutellaria parvula is extremely variable across its range. Three varieties have been recognized in Kansas. Scutellaria, dish, alluding to the cap or protuberance on the calyx and parvula, small. Due to tuberous swellings, the horizontal rhizomes resemble a string of beads

Small skullcap flowers