Scutellaria lateriflora

Side-flowering skullcap, Side-Flowering Skullcap

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Side-flowering skullcap is a native perennial found in the Deltaic Great Valley and eastern Sierra Nevada saline regions in marshes and wet meadows at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces blue flowers in compact racemes or spikes with blossoms 6 to 8 millimeters long. Growing 20 to 60 centimeters tall with slender rhizomes and glabrous or sparsely hairy stems, it has an ascending to upcurled growth habit. Its cauline leaves range from ovate to lanceolate, with rounded to truncate bases, slightly dentate edges, and acute tips, with proximal leaf petioles 10 to 20 millimeters long. The fruit is approximately spherical and brown.

Habitat: Marshes, wet meadows

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: Deltaic GV, SNE (Saline Valley)

California counties: Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Sacramento

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.