Skullcap, Baikal (Scutellaria baicalensis) seeds, organic

(5 customer reviews)

$4.95$20.00

Family: Mint (Lamiaceae)

Hardy to Zones 4 to 8

(Skullcap, Baical; Huang-qin, Scute Root) Herbaceous perennial. Native to the shores of Lake Baikal, Mongolia, Siberia, and the Chihli and Shantung provinces of China. The purple flowers are like schools of dolphin breaking through green waves in a summer sea. The part used in traditional Chinese medicine is the dried root.  Traditional usage (TCM): antiallergic, diuretic, hypotensive, antibacterial, antiviral, tranquilizing and fever-reducing, commonly used for treatment of dysentery, hepatitis, staph.  Source of flavones baicalin and wogonin.  This is one of the best Chinese plants to grow organically in America. Not only is it a very striking bedding plant, bearing one of the nicest flowers available from this catalog, but there is on-going demand for the root, which attains harvestable size after only 2 years. Plant prefers sun and regular garden soils.  It is extremely drought-tolerant.  Sow seed in early spring. Germ. in ~24 days. Space plants 12 inches apart. Flowers to 12 inches tall. As the plants age they become wider, much like humans in middle age, but unlike humans, the seed they produce becomes increasingly viable the older they get.

Packet contains 30 seeds
1 g contains ~560 seeds

Certified Organically Grown

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5 reviews with a 5-star rating

  1. Vanessa

    Question

    Vanessa

    Hi! Mine just germinated this week and I am wondering if I should bring them inside since we are currently having lows in the 30s at night?

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  2. 8 out of 8 people found this helpful
    mary

    Hardy to Zone 3!

    mary

    One of many medicinal garden surprises from SM! I purchased seed several years ago. It germinated well on a heat mat (~75F) under LED lights. Up-potted the many seedlings once and later transplanted into the border of the medicinal herb garden in northern MN – sandy loam soil, 8 hrs full sun. They survived the first Zone 3 winter and many more to follow (We’re talking -30F to -40F temps!). They are still going strong and produce a beautiful deep blue-purple flowering border every summer. My only complaint is that they are such gorgeous little plants I can’t bring myself to harvest their roots for medicinal purposes.

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  3. Lynn

    Beautiful plants

    Lynn

    I received and planted 3 plants last September. They survived a harsh winter and have grown rapidly this spring into husky, healthy plants.

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  4. 2 out of 2 people found this helpful
    Deena

    Amazing germ and good for other plants?

    Deena (verified owner)

    Though this should go without saying, follow Richo’s instructions and you should have great germination rates (I did)! But I’m writing this review because I’ve noticed that the baikal skullcap seedlings I potted in a big tub with chamomile babies seem to be helping the chamomile overcome the transplant shock! These were all planted out at the same time and the chamomile will all do fine eventually, but with the same soil, light, and moisture, it’s clear how much faster the chamomile closest to the baikal skullcap recovered!!! I then noticed that a gaura plant that self-sowed in another (small) container where I had some lateriflora is also KILLIN’ IT!! Though the baikal root is much more muscular (and easier to get a usable harvest from), lateriflora has even higher concentrations of some of the desired phyto chemicals in its roots (you’d just need to harvest a lot more of the relatively dainty lateriflora roots to get it). So anyway- could be a coincidence, but I’d love to hear if others have noticed this??

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  5. One person found this helpful
    BA

    BA (verified owner)

    Did an experiment and started one package of Biacal in starter trays and later one package sown directly into garden…BOTH exceeded my expectations on germination and growth! Many thanks!

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