Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Obedient-plant at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Garden escapes show some intermediacy between ssp. praemorsa and ssp. virginiana, and Cantino (1982) suggests that cultivars are likely inter-subspecific hybrids, stating "because the genetic background of modern cultivars is unknown, they cannot be reasonably placed in either subspecies and should not be identified below the species level". Read more in Weakley's Flora (2022)
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Physostegia virginiana var. virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH A monograph of the genus Physostegia (Labiatae) (Cantino, 1982)
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 164-13-001:
Dracocephalum virginianum FAMILY Lamiaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Dracocephalum virginianum
COMMON NAME:
Northern Obedient-plant, False Dragonhead
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_drvi3_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm0406a_26
June York County SC
Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden
Leaves are narrowly lanceolate and sharply toothed, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm0308s_22
August Haywood County NC
Corneille Bryan Native Garden
)
Keith Bradley kab_p_virginiana_78601
August Canada
Montreal Botanical Garden
The upper lip is entire and helmet-like; lower lip is shorter with 3 lobes, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
)
Keith Bradley kab_p_virginiana_78607
August Canada
Montreal Botanical Garden
Each plant has four rows of 1" long zygomorphic flowers, per Wild Flowers of NC, 1st edition.
)
JK Marlow jkm0509f_22
September Rutherford County NC
In cultivation
Calyx lobes ascending and less than 1/3 the length of the tube, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2015)
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of Vascular Plants of NE US & Adjacent Canada (Gleason & Cronquist,1991)
Physostegia virginiana var. virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
A monograph of the genus Physostegia (Labiatae) (Cantino, 1982)
Physostegia virginiana ssp. virginiana
INCLUDED WITHIN
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 164-13-001:
Dracocephalum virginianum
FAMILY
Lamiaceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Dracocephalum virginianum
485
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Streambanks, seepages, marshes, grassy balds (native occurrences usually over mafic or calcareous rocks), other open or semi-open moist to wet habitats, disturbed areas, ditches, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas
Rare
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Opposite
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Pink/Lavender
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-lobed campanulate calyx
2-lipped tubular corolla, upper lip hood-like
4 stamens, arched under the corolla's upper lip
Superior ovary
Bisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Olive-brown
Schizocarp of mericarps
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p223?
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p169?
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p159?
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p132?
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p400
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p267
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p397
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p549
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p469
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p094?
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p080?
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p216?
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p224?
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p266?
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p142?
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".