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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.
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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 its 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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