Scutellaria lateriflora - Mad Dog Skullcap

Sizes available: HPP #1 ( quart size available, contact nursery)

Basics: zones 3-9, 2-3' x 1-2', full sun to part shade, bluish-purple blooms (sometimes white) during the summer, likes wet to moist fertile soil, not picky as to soil type.

Common names: Mad Dog Skullcap, Blue Skullcap, American Skullcap, Side-flowering Skullcap

Family: Lamiaceae

Origin/Distribution: This plant has a wide distribution in North America and is present in 46 states. Native to Maine.

Habitat: Occurs in low spots with some sunlight and consistent moisture - vernal pools, marsh edges, wetlands. Here is a beautiful description of habitat: "...low, wet woods, swamp meadows, alluvial thickets, gravel bars, river floodplain forests, borders of sloughs, spring branches, streams, swamps, lowland and sinkhole ponds, moist edges of limestone and sandstone bluffs..." (Steyermark)

More: Has been used medicinally, but is also potentially toxic so proceed with caution. Deer and rabbit resistant. Is the larval host for the Skullcap Skeletonizer Moth (aka the Chorentid Moth), Prochoreutis inflatella which is native to Maine. More information coming soon

Source: grown at Honey Petal Plants with seed from Toadshade Wildflower Farm

Image credits: Frank Meuschke of Shelterwood Gardens; illustration from Wikimedia Commons