Scutellaria altaica Ledeb. ex Sweet

Kamelin (in litt.) believes that this plant is not true Scutellaria altaica, which has a violet corolla, but rather S. irregularis Juzepczuk (Bot. Mater. Gerb. Bot. Inst. Komarova Akad. Nauk SSSR 14: 369. 1951).

Subshrubs perennial, ca. 25 cm tall. Rhizomes woody, to 1 cm in diam., tortuous. Stems numerous, base woody, prostrate to ascending, much branched; branches dark purple, tortuous, sparsely floccose pubescent, glandular. Petiole 3-12 mm, flat, finely pubescent; leaf blade ovate, 1-2 × 0.8-1.2 cm, adaxially sparsely pubescent, abaxially finely appressed pubescent, base broadly cuneate, margin irregularly coarsely 4-6-dentate to crenate, teeth oblong and acute to obtuse, apex acute. Racemes 3-3.5 cm; bracts largest basally, gradually reduced upward, broadly ovate, to 1.6 × 1.2 cm, pubescent, short stipitate glandular along veins and margin outside, apex short acuminate. Pedicel ca. 2 mm. Calyx ca. 3 mm, densely pubescent outside, glandular, to 4 mm in fruit; scutellum ca. 2 mm, to 4 mm in fruit. Corolla yellowish, 2.2-2.5 cm, pubescent outside, glandular; tube saccate-geniculate in front at base, ca. 2 mm wide at basal 1/3, gradually dilated to 6 mm wide at throat; upper lip ca. 5 mm wide; middle lobe of lower lip broadly ovate, ca. 8 mm wide, apex emarginate; lateral lobes ovate, ca. 2 mm wide. Nutlets triquetrous, ovoid, ca. 1.5 × 0.75 mm, abaxially umbonate, densely gray tomentose. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug.

Xinjiang

* Slopes; 1600-2500 m.

Scutellaria altaicola C. Y. Wu & H. W. Li; S. lupulina Linnaeus var. violacea Bunge.