24. DRACOCÉPHALUM, Tourn. Dragon-Head.
Calyx tubular, 13–15-nerved, straight, 5-toothed; the upper tooth usually much the largest. Corolla 2-lipped; the upper lip slightly arched and notched; the lower spreading, 3-cleft, with its middle lobe largest and 2-cleft or notched at the end. Stamens 4, ascending under the upper lip, the lower pair shorter; anthers approximate by pairs, the cells divergent.—Whorls many-flowered, mostly spiked or capitate, and with awn-toothed or fringed leafy bracts. (Name from δράκων, a dragon, and κεφαλή, head, alluding to the form of the corolla in the original species.)
1. D. parviflòrum, Nutt. Annual or biennial; stem erect, leafy (8–20´ high); leaves ovate-lanceolate, sharply cut-toothed, petioled; whorls crowded in a terminal head or spike; upper tooth of the calyx ovate, nearly equalling the bluish small slender corolla.—Rocky or gravelly soil, northern N. Y. to Iowa and Minn., and westward.
25. SCUTELLÀRIA, L. Skullcap.
Calyx bell-shaped in flower, 2-lipped; the lips entire, closed in fruit, the upper with a helmet-like at length concave and enlarged appendage on the back (the upper sepal); calyx splitting to the base at maturity, the upper lip usually falling away. Corolla with an elongated curved ascending tube, dilated at the throat, 2-lipped; the upper lip arched, entire or barely notched, the lateral lobes mostly connected with the upper rather than the lower lip; the lower lobe or lip spreading and convex, notched at the apex. Stamens 4, ascending under the upper lip; anthers approximate in pairs, ciliate or bearded, those of the lower stamens 1-celled (halved), of the upper 2-celled and heart-shaped.—Bitter perennial herbs, not aromatic, the short peduncles or pedicels chiefly opposite, 1-flowered, often 1-sided, axillary or spiked or racemed; in summer. (Name from scutella, a dish, in allusion to the appendage to the fruiting calyx.)
§ 1. Nutlets wingless, mostly marginless, on a low gynobase.
[*] Flowers small (3´´ long), in axillary and sometimes terminal 1-sided racemes.
1. S. lateriflòra, L. (Mad-dog Skullcap.) Smooth; stem upright, much branched (1–2° high); leaves lanceolate-ovate or ovate-oblong, pointed, coarsely serrate, rounded at base, petioled (2–3´´ long), the lower floral ones similar; flowers blue, rarely white.—Wet shaded places, common.
[*][*] Flowers larger (6–12´´ long) in terminal single or panicled racemes, the floral leaves gradually reduced to bracts.
[+] Stem-leaves all cordate, crenate-toothed, slender-petioled; lateral lobes of the corolla almost equalling the short upper lip.