General: Perennial herb; stems erect, slender, hairless, four-sided, 30─90 cm tall; branches erect.

 

Leaves: Opposite, sharply toothed, short-stalked, narrowly to broadly lance-shaped, slender-pointed at tip, tapered to base, 7─20 cm long, 1─4 cm wide.

 

Flowers: White or pinkish, tubular, two-lipped, about 2.5 cm long; upper lip concave; lower lip three-lobed, hairy within; in dense, hairless spikes at stem tip and from leaf axils. July to September.

 

Fruits: Ovoid capsules, about 1.2 cm long, with many flattened winged seeds).

 

Where found: In swamps, marshes, wet woods, thickets, ditches, stream banks and lakeshores; from southeastern Manitoba to Newfoundland, south to Missouri and Georgia.

 

Notes: This species is usually only available for sale by special request; a related species, Red or Pink Turtlehead (Chelone obliqua), which is native to the Midwestern and Southeastern United States, is more readily available at local garden centres.

 

 

 

Return to Plant List