Scutellaria barbata seed

LATIN NAME: Scutellaria barbata

COMMON NAME: Barbed Skullcap

A slender, branching herb of the damp ground and the streamside, the barbed skullcap is easy to overlook until it flowers. It grows as an upright, much-branched annual or short-lived perennial, reaching up to half a metre or so, with the narrow, pointed, toothed leaves set in pairs along the square stems and, through the summer, the small, two-lipped flowers of a clear, blue-violet, carried in loose, one-sided rows along the upper stems. The flowers are small but bright, and a good patch of the plant in flower glows blue in the damp corner. It is a species of the flowering herb in the mint family, native to the wet, open ground of the eastern Asia, and it is known as the barbed skullcap.

The barbed skullcap belongs to the mint family, Lamiaceae, and it is an upright, much-branched herb of the wet, open ground of the eastern Asia. Its small, two-lipped, blue-violet flowers and its square stems are the mark of the mint family. It is known as the barbed skullcap, and it is treasured for its fine, bright flowers.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The barbed skullcap has a long history as a herb of the traditional practice of the region, and that history has been written about in the pharmaceutical and botanical papers. The chemistry of the whole plant has been studied by the researchers of the natural products, and the herb has been looked at for its place in the traditional ways of the region. The plant is best understood as a traditional herb rather than a modern medicine, and its chemistry continues to be a subject of the study. Its fine, blue-violet flowers and its easy, damp-loving ways have also been of interest in the horticulture, and the skullcaps as a group have been studied for their showy, two-lipped flowers. For a herb with such a long traditional story, the barbed skullcap has a quiet and continuing record of study.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

For the damp corner and the streamside garden, the barbed skullcap is a fine, bright plant. Its small, two-lipped, blue-violet flowers open through the summer, and they draw the small bees and the hoverflies of the damp garden. The whole herb has a long traditional history in the region, and its bright, blue flowering has made it a valued plant of the moist border. It is a neat, easy plant that asks only for a damp, sunny spot, and it will seed itself quietly into the moist ground. In the wet corner the barbed skullcap is a rewarding, easy plant. These are willing seeds — scatter them over the surface of pots of moist, fine seed compost and press them in lightly without covering them, since they like a little light, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and never let them dry out, and the first fine seedlings will be up before long.

Uses: Medicinal