Skullcap, the common name for plants of the labiate family of the genus Scutellaria, the botanical name being derived from Lat. scu-tella, a dish, as the fruiting calyx has an appendage which closes it; this appendage has also suggested the popular name skullcap. The skullcaps are perennial herbs, destitute of the aromatic qualities usually found in the order; they are widely distributed over the temperate and subtropical countries, and some of the Mexican and South American species are sometimes met with as greenhouse plants. Eight or ten species are found in our northern states. The common skullcap (S.gale-riculata), common also in Europe, is very frequent in wet and shady places, and is quite showy; it has had a medicinal reputation, as has a still more common species, S. lateriflora, which under the name of mad-dog skullcap was some years ago used as a pretended remedy for hydrophobia. The plants are of interest to the botanist, but of no medicinal value.

Common Skullcap (Scutellaria galericulata).