Scutellaria discolor Colebr. (Family: Lamiaceae, common name bicolor or official skullcap) is an annual herb that occurs in hilly regions of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, etc. It grows in hill slopes and blooms in rainy seasons. The lower side of the leaf is purple but appears green where sunlight reaches.
Bicolor Skullcap is a perennial shrub, with 1 to few stems, 1-2 ft tall. Flowers are blue, tubular 2-lipped, in long slender loose leafless spikes, 8-25 cm long. Flowers are 1.3-1.8 cm long, with a slender, curved tube, opening into two lips. Upper lips is entire, hooded, and the lower one is broad, 3-lobed, often paler in color. Sepals cup is 2 mm long, enlarging in fruit and covering the nutlets. The common name of the plant comes from the sepal cups which look like medieval helmets. Elliptic leaves are mostly at the base, with blunt-toothed margins, 2-8 cm long, long stalked, often purple on the underside. Bicolor Skullcap is found on shady banks in the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand to NE India, at altitudes of 700-2400 m. Flowering: July-November.
Location: Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.
Date of Collection: 13 October 2024.
