Skullcap

Scutellaria lateriflora

Also: Blue skullcap, Mad-dog skullcap, American skullcap

CoolingDryingRelaxing

Unknots the neck, the jaw, and the thoughts that won't stop.

A slender, square-stemmed mint of wet ground, with toothed leaves and small blue hooded flowers lined up along one side of each stem. Skullcap releases the physical grip of stress, the tight neck, shoulders, and jaw, and settles the overworked mind that comes with it.

Energetics: Cooling, drying, relaxing
Taste: Bitter, aromatic
Family: Lamiaceae (mint family)
Parts used: Flowering tops

Medicinal uses 5

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Anxiety & stressTLC
Calms stress that shows up as tension, worry, and a mind that keeps replaying the day.
Muscle tension & spasmTLC
Releases tight shoulders, neck, and jaw, the posture of long hours at a desk or behind the wheel.
Tension headacheTLC
Eases headaches that start at the base of the skull and creep up from tight neck muscles.
Trouble sleepingTLC
Helps a tired, overwrought person fall asleep, especially paired with passionflower.
Nerve painTLC
A long-standing nerve tonic for twitching, tremor, and frayed nerves.

Preparations

Tea made below the boil, fresh-plant tincture, and tension blends.

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Cautions

Very gentle, though it can make some people drowsy; see how it takes you before driving.
Skullcap sold in the past was sometimes swapped for germander, which harms the liver. Buy from a supplier who tests identity.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Pregnancy research is thin, and its sedative action and past problems with adulterated product keep it out of pregnancy. Linden and lemon balm suit pregnant nerves better.

BreastfeedingAvoid

Its sedative action could reach a nursing baby. Choose a gentler nervine while breastfeeding.

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Folklore

Scutellaria comes from the Latin scutella, a little dish, for the lidded cap that sits on each ripening seed pod. In the 1770s a New Jersey physician, Lawrence Van Derveer, began promoting skullcap as a cure for rabies, and though it cured no one, the name mad-dog skullcap stuck. Lateriflora means side-flowering, for the blooms that run in a single row along one side of the stem.

How to grow

A perennial for moist soil in sun or part shade, at home at a pond or ditch edge. Start from seed, cold-stratified for a few weeks, or divide established clumps. Cut the flowering tops in summer and tincture them fresh.

In the wild

Wet meadows, stream banks, swamps, and damp woods across most of North America.

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