Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Scutellaria humilis

Common name

Dwarf skullcap, Australian skullcap

Family

Lamiaceae

Where found

Dry forest, disturbed areas, gardens, rocky slopes, moist sheltered sites, and gullies. Widespread.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.2 m high or prostrate, often rooting from the lower nodes. Stems 4-angled, hairy, the  hairs mainly along the ridges. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, opposite each other, 0.5–2 cm long, 5–20 mm wide, bases cordate or rarely squared off; margins scalloped to toothed or almost entire, upper surface hairless or with a few hairs near the margins, lower surface with hairs mostly on the veins, stalkless glands between the veins, tips approximately blunt. Flowers pale purplish red, red, mauve, or pale violet, with white markings, sometimes wholly white or mauve, sometimes spotted orange in the throat, 5–7 mm long, tubular, 2-lipped with 5 lobes, the lower lip slightly longer than the hooded upper lip. Calyx often purplish red or tinged purple. Flowers single at the base of each of paired leaves. Flowering: mostly October–April.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Scutellaria~humilis (accessed 6 February, 2021)