Alpine scullcap

Scutellaria alpina, the alpine skullcap, is a low perennial herb in the family Lamiaceae, native to the mountains of central and southern Europe and across temperate Asia, where it grows on stony slopes, rocky pasture and scree from the montane to the alpine zone. It forms tufts of decumbent to ascending stems 10-25 cm tall, slightly square in section and clothed in small, ovate to oblong, crenate leaves about 1-3 cm long. From early to mid-summer it bears showy four-sided terminal spikes of two-lipped tubular flowers, each 2-3 cm long, with a curved purple-blue upper lip and a paler whitish lower lip blotched with violet; the calyx bears the characteristic Scutellaria 'shield' scale that gives the genus its name. The species is occasionally cultivated in rock gardens.