The LARGER or HYSSOP SKULLCAP (S.integrifolia) rarely has a dent in its rounded oblong leaves ,which, like the stem, are covered with fine down.Its lovely, bright blue flowers, an inch long, the lips of about equal length, are grouped opposite each other at the top of a stem that never lifts them higher than two feet;and so their beauty is often concealed in the tall grass of roadsides and meadows and the undergrowth of woods and thickets, where they bloom from May to August, from southern New England to the Gulf of Mexico, westward to Texas.
This tribe of plants is almost exclusively North American, but the hardy MARSH SKULLCAP or HOODED WILLOW-HERB (S.galericulata), at least, roams over Europe, and Asia also, with the help of runners, as well as seeds that, sinking into the soft earth of swamps and the borders of brooks, find growth easy.The blue flowers which grow singly in the axils of the upper leaves are quite as long as those of the larger and the showy skullcaps; the oblong, lance-shaped leaves, which are mostly seated on the branching stem, opposite each other, have low teeth.Why do leaves vary as they do, especially in closely allied species?
"The causes which have led to the different forms of leaves have been, so far as I know," says Sir John Lubbock, "explained in very few cases: those of the shapes and structure of seeds are tolerably obvious in some species, but in the majority they are still entirely unexplained; and, even as regards the blossoms themselves, in spite of the numerous and conscientious labors of so many eminent naturalists, there is as yet no single species thoroughly known to us."GROUND IVY or JOY; GILL-OVER-THE-GROUND; FIELD BALM; CREEPINGCHARLIE
(Glecoma hederacea; Nepeta Glechoma of Gray) Mint family Flowers - Light bluish purple, dotted with small specks of reddish violet; growing singly or in clusters along stem, seated in leaf axils; calyx hairy, with 5 sharp teeth; corolla tubular, over 1/2 in.long, 2-lipped, the upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip with 3 spreading lobes, middle one largest; 4 stamens in pairs under upper lip; the anther sacs spreading; pistil with 2-lobed style.Stem: Trailing, rooting at intervals, sometimes 18 in.
long, leafy, the branches ascending.Leaves: From 1/2 to 1 1/2in.across; smooth, rounded, kidney-shaped, scallop-edged.
Preferred Habitat - Waste places, shady ground.
Flowering Season - March-May.
Distribution - Eastern half of Canada and the United States, from Georgia and Kansas northward.
Besides the larger flowers, containing both stamens and pistils, borne on this little immigrant, smaller female flowers, containing a pistil only, occur just as they do in thyme, mint, marjoram, and doubtless other members of the great family to which all belong.Muller attempted to prove that these small flowers, being the least showy, are the last to be visited by insects, which, having previously dusted themselves with pollen from the stamens of the larger flowers when they first open, are in a condition to make cross-fertilization certain.So much for the small flower's method of ****** insects serve its end; the larger flowers have another way.At first they are male; that is, the pistil is as yet undeveloped and the four stamens are mature, ready to shed pollen on any insect alighting on the lip.Later, when the stamens are past maturity, the pistil elongates itself and is ready for the reception of pollen brought from younger flowers.Many blossoms are male on the first day of opening, and female later, to protect themselves against self-fertilization.
In Europe, where the aromatic leaves of this little creeper were long ago used for fermenting and clarifying beer, it is known by such names as ale-hoof and gill ale-gill, it is said, being derived from the old French word, guiller, to ferment or make merry.Having trailed across Europe, the persistent hardy plant is now creeping its way over our continent, much to the disgust of cattle, which show unmistakable dislike for a single leaf caught up in a mouthful of herbage.
Very closely allied to the ground ivy is the CATMINT or CATNIP(Nepela Cataria) ,whose pale-purple, or nearly white flowers, dark-spotted, may be most easily named by crushing the coarsely toothed leaves in one's hand.It is curious how cats will seek out this hoary-hairy plant in the waste places where it grows and become half-crazed with delight over its aromatic odor.
SELF-HEAL; HEAL-ALL; BLUE CURLS; HEART-OF-THE-EARTH; BRUNELLA(Prunella vulgaris) Mint family Flowers - Purple and violet, in dense spikes, somewhat resembling a clover head; from 1/2 to 1 in.long in flower, becoming 4 times the length in fruit.Corolla tubular, irregularly 2-lipped, the upper lip darker and hood-like; the lower one 3-lobed, spreading, the middle and largest lobe fringed; 4 twin-like stamens ascending under upper lip; filaments ofthe lower and longer pair 2-toothed at summit, one of the teeth bearing an anther, the other tooth sterile; style thread-like, shorter than stamens, and terminating in a 2-cleft stigma.Calyx 2-parted, half the length of corolla, its teeth often hairy on edges.Stem: 2 in.to 2 ft.
high, erect or reclining, ****** or branched.Leaves: Opposite, oblong.Fruit: 4 nutlets, round and smooth.
Preferred Habitat - Fields, roadsides, waste places.
Flowering Season - May-October.
Distribution - North America, Europe, Asia.