Stems erect or the base somewhat decumbent, slender or stout, simple or usually branched above, 1 to 4 feet tall. Leaves firm, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, sessile or the lowest ones petioled, sharp pointed at the apex, narrowed at the base, the margins sharply toothed, 2 to 5 inches long and usually ascending. Flowers numerous in dense spikes, terminating the stem and branches, the spikes becoming 4 to 8 inches long in fruit. Calyx bell-shaped with five ovate, pointed teeth about half as long as the tube of the calyx, in fruit becoming oblong, one-third to nearly one-half of an inch long. Corolla pale purple, rose or rarely white, about 1 inch long, temporarily remaining in whatever position it is placed, which accounts for one of the common names of the plant (Obedient Plant). Tube of the corolla gradually enlarged upward, its limb strongly two-lipped; upper lip concave, rounded, entire; lower lip spreading, three-lobed, the middle lobe notched at the apex; the four stamens ascending under the upper lip of the corolla, their filaments pubescent.

In moist meadows, roadsides and fields, Quebec to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas. Flowering from July to September.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 188

Dragonhead; Lions Heart   Dracocephalum virginianum

Dragonhead; Lions Heart - Dracocephalum virginianum