Scutellaria bushii Britton

Bush's Skullcap

Scutellaria_bushii_plant.jpg
STATS

Native
CC = 10
CW = 5
MOC = 13

© DETenaglia

Family - Lamiaceae

Stems - To 30cm tall, erect, simple, multiple from base, typically reddish at the base, 4-angled, with glandular pubescence and antrorse pubescence, herbaceous.

Scutellaria_bushii_stem.jpg

© DETenaglia

Leaves - Opposite, decussate, sessile, oblong, entire, rounded at the apex, glandular punctate above, antrorse pubescent and glandular pubescent below, with a few visible alternate lateral veins below, +/-3cm long, +/-6mm broad, typically erect and somewhat parallel to axis.

Scutellaria_bushii_leaves.jpg

© DETenaglia

Inflorescence - Single or paired axillary flowers. Pedicels erect, 3-4mm long in flower, longer in fruit, antrorse pubescent and glandular. Pedicels typically with two minute opposite linear bracts at the base. Bracts to -1mm long.

Flowers - Corolla deep blue-purple above, lighter purple below, to 2cm long, bilabiate, glandular pubescent externally, glabrous internally. Upper lip with a galeate central lobe. The galea to 6mm long. Lateral lobes to 3mm long and rounded. Lower lip single-lobed, deep purple internally with white splotches at the center, notched at the apex, +/-1cm long and broad, glabrous internally. Stamens 4, didynamous, included under the galea, adnate to corolla tube. Filaments glabrous, lilac, to +1cm long. Anthers purple, 1mm broad. Style glabrous, translucent, inserted between stamens, 2.3cm long. Ovary deeply four-parted. Lobes rounded, pubescent, light green, subtended by distinct white glands, with two lobes raised higher than the other two. Calyx with dorsal protuberance, glandular, antrorse pubescent, +/-3mm long in flower, accrescent, shallowly bilabiate. Protuberance to 3mm broad in flower, greatly expanding in fruit to +5mm broad. Lips of calyx single, rounded, converging in fruit and enclosing fruits.

Scutellaria_bushii_flower.jpg

© DETenaglia

Scutellaria_bushii_flower2.jpg

© DETenaglia

Scutellaria_bushii_calyx.jpg Calyx.

© DETenaglia

Flowering - May - June.

Habitat - Limestone glades and bald knobs.

Origin - Native to U.S.

Other info. - This little species is a characteristic plant of glades in the heart of the Ozarks. It is only found in the central portion of the Ozarks but is quite common in the habitats mentioned above. This is an easy species to ID in the field because of its oblong rounded leaves, brilliant flowers, and habitat.

Photographs taken in Eminence, MO., 5-23-03.