ok so this is my first thread, hope I am not breaking any 'rules' so here we go: I found this one in the Edmonton AB vicinity. We had a very dry year and this one we found in the open areas between Salix spp and tall grasses in a imperfectly drained area (dry at the time, but could have periodic soggy soil conditions in other years). All the other plants were about 20 - 30 cm high, but this one was around 35-40 cm high. It has a flower similar looking to Scutellaria galericulata, the the leaves are hairless, glossy/glabrous, serrated, and somewhat fleshy, and yes it has a square stem (Mint family). So it may be fairly simple to some mint experts, but I seem to be stuck on this one. Thanks for giving it some thought and hopefully I can respond to this, otherwise if you don't hear back from me in 2 weeks, please remove it. Sorry Plant rooky Atty
Ok, I hope i figured it out now - I thought I attached it previously, that is why the preview button is there!! Here we go. Sorry atty
That makes sense. You think it might be P virginiana? What is the difference I only have a key describing P. parviflora and unfortunately the picture of the flower is not very clear. I don't have a key for Parviflora unfortunately. Here is another picture showing some other plants, but once again poor illustration of the flower details Thanks Atty
Corresponding to USDA database (http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PHYSO2), there are two Physostegia species in Alberta: P.parviflora and P.ledinghamii. They are different, probably, just in the flower size. This description might be useful: PHYSOSTEGIA LEDINGHAMII (LAMIACEAE): FLORAL LENGTH VARIATION IN THE TYPE POPULATION, EPONYMY AND ISOTYPES http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben330.html
Based on the flower size (around 10 mm) and based on the upper leaf basal widening I think I am going to stick with P. parviflora Thank you for your help! Atty
