Scutellaria lateriflora, Mad Dog Skullcap, Quart Pot, New for 2024

Scutellaria lateriflora, Mad Dog Skullcap

FS-PS, Zone 3, Blooms July - September, 2’ x 2’, Wet to Medium-wet, deer resistant

This is another great mint family plant that has herbal medicine uses and also attracts a wide range of native bees. The Skullcaps we planted at Detroit Abloom four years ago have thrived. Ours is a slightly different variety, called Scutellaria incanta, which has slightly different colored leaves and bloom colors. There are many closely related scullcap varieties that are native to much of the U.S.

As a medicianl plant, it was originally thought to provide a cure for rabies, thus the common nickname, Mad Dog. This myth was disproven, however. Today it is used in herbal medicine as a mild sedative and for anti-anxiety cures.

The small blossoms are shaped with a lip that acts as the bee’s landing pad. The upper petals form a helmut shape that implies the name “skullcap.” Once the flower is pollinated, the little cap swells and drops off to reveal nutlets, which feed the birds. The plant, when blooming, is always teeming with bumblebees and other small native bees, butterfies, and moth hosts.

The plant grows from rhizomes but doesn’t spread too agressively.