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Species of the Week
Number 3 --
June 12, 2006
This is the third species featured in the Species of the Week feature of the Wildwood Web
where, each week, we explore one of the plants, animals or other living
organisms which make Wildwood Park a special, beautiful, and unusual place.
To see the earlier featured species check the Species
of the Week archives.
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Showy Skullcap
Scutellaria serrata
Showy skullcap is indeed one of the showiest flowers
of Wildwood in the early summer. It has large flowers, about
an inch long, that are rich blue. The leaves are deep green
and toothed along the margins. The species name serrata
means saw-toothed. Showy skullcap likes rich woods and can be
found along the trails and also under trees along the roads.
It is a plant of the piedmont and mountains of the mid-Atlantic
region, found from southeastern New York and western New Jersey
south to Tennessee, West Virginia and South Carolina.
Skullcaps are in the Lamiaceae, the Mint Family.
Members of this family are found all over the world, but especially
in the area around the Mediterranean. Cultivated members of
the family provide us with flavors and fragrances; mint, catnip,
oregano, basil, thyme, lemon balm, lavender and sage are all in this
family. It is one of the most common families in North
America, and a number of both native and escaped exotic species of
this family are found in Wildwood.
Members of the Mint Family have three
characteristics that make them easy to recognize. First, the
leaves come in pairs opposite each other on the stem.
Second, the stem is square in cross section, which you can easily
detect by gently rolling the stem between your fingers and feeling
the corners. Third, the flower is a highly complex shape,
typical of the family. A fourth character is that most members
have highly fragrant and tasty foliage. Skullcaps, however,
are an exception here, being bitter-tasting, and odorless. |
Flowers of the mint family are very interesting. They
basically have five petals, but the petals are fused together into a
structure that is bilaterally symmetrical. This means that
either side of the flower is a mirror image of the other, like a
human face. Simpler flowers are radially symmetrical, like a
wheel. You can see the five petals of skullcap in the picture
above. Two are fused together to make a lower lip that
protrudes well in front of the others. A third petal forms an
upper canopy shaped somewhat like a parka hood which presumably
gives the plant its common name. Two side petals are fused to
the top petal and look somewhat like ears. All five petals are
fused into a curved tube at the base of the flower. The
sepals, too, are fused into a cup called the calyx. This is
the purple cover of the base of the upper flowers in the picture.
The top sepal of this calyx is larger than the others, is flat and
is called a scutellum, Latin for plate, which gives the
skullcap genus it's name.
Look for showy skullcap under trees along the trails in June.
After admiring the deep blue color of its flowers, take a close look
at their exquisite, elaborate shape. Also, keep an eye peeled
for showy skullcap's relatives; at least two other skullcaps with
smaller flowers live in Wildwood.
GGC |
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