Skullcap, Official (Scutellaria lateriflora) seeds, organic

(6 customer reviews)

$4.95$59.10

Family:  Mint (Lamiacea)

Hardy to Zones 3 to 9

(Mad Dog Skullcap, Virginia Skullcap, Blue Skullcap) Herbaceous perennial native to the US. Flowers light blue to a height of 30 inches.  Plant prefers shade and rich, moist soils.  Traditional usage: TWM, sleeplessness, anxiety and depression. The plant itself is likable and unassuming, with a multi-stemmed, upright habit, reddish stems and flowers located to one side of the stem (thus lateriflora, which is very often and incorrectly called “laterifolia” in the herb industry).  Sow seed in garden in cool soils of fall or early spring, or give 30 days moist refrigeration by mixing with peat moss, coir or sand in a plastic bag or glass jar in the fridge.  Bury seed 1/4 inch deep and tamp–dark dependent germinator.   Then, sow in warm soil.  Germ in 30 days.  Thin or transplant to 1 foot apart.

Packet contains 50 seeds
1 g contains ~2,500
5 g contains ~ 12,500 seeds
10 g contains ~ 25,000 seeds
Certified Organically Grown

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5 out of 5 stars

6 reviews

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What others are saying

  1. Question

    james.magnus.bacon (verified owner)

    Hi Richo!

    I two skullcap beds and one is in it’s third year and another is in it’s second year. I love these!!!

    Last year I made one cut and it came back but I am wondering about how many cuts/harvest are average/appropriate for skullcap? And about how many inches should I leave on the plant to ensure that it regrows?

    Also, I have read that the medical potency of dried skullcap diminishes faster than most herbs – is this your experience? If so, do you have an estimate of how long the dried herb remains optimal?

    Thank you!

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    • 3 out of 3 people found this helpful
      Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      Hi James, you’ll want the full monograph that will be published in “Growing Plant Medicine” vol 2. Its true, most of us want to use the fresh plant tincture due to the loss of potency upon drying. The dried herb is good for a year. Do not destem–a lot of the flavonoids are in the stem. you can get 2 cuttings a year. You have to cut them back to the ground to get the yield, they will regrow. richo

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  2. 4 out of 4 people found this helpful
    mary

    Hardy to Zone 3!

    mary

    The seed was planted in a starting mix and stayed in the root cellar (40F) for a couple months. It germinated well once placed on a heat mat (~75F) under LED lights. The seedlings were up-potted once and transplanted into the medicinal herb garden (sandy loam soil, 8 hrs full sun). This was several years ago. Being rated only to Zone 6, I half expected it to die out over the Zone 3 winter (-30F to -40F), but nope! I found it wandering through the Elecampane, Valerian, and Astragalus, where it has continued to wander about. I’ve transplanted some to another garden bed with Arnica chamissonis where they both continue to wander about under the Asparagus also planted there, creating a lovely understory/ground cover and providing a source of medicinal herbs. It may not be the most beautiful Scutellaria of the bunch, but it’s a hardy and persistent one that is constantly on the move!

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  3. Question

    Heather Leger

    I’m unable to select this item is it unavailable?

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    • Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      hello heather, thanks for letting me know about this, i fixed it. richo

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    • omshivani

      Hi Richo ,
      I’m curious does this Skullcap Lateriflora or Baical need to be overwintered?

      (I’m in zone 10a)

      Thank you.

      BTW,
      I didn’t stratify at all and both came up !

      I only sowed two seeds of each – under LED lights with heat mats – now I have four beautiful lil plants going, call it lucky?! hurrah!
      🙂

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    • Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      greetings shivani, the lateriflora usually does best with some cold pretreatment. The baicalensis is an easy warm soil germinator. sometimes with very fresh seed, as these are, cold stratification is unnecessary. some kinds of seeds take on dormancy as they age, and then they take longer to wake up. you have great faith to plant only 2 seeds, exceeding mine by a factor of 10, it seems. r

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    • Shivani

      I am a woman of great faith, it’s true LOL !! Honestly I think its just because your seeds are the best (BIG SMILE). Thanks for all you do, I have wonderful plants this year with many of your seeds. Couldn’t be more thrilled.

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  4. Question

    Chloe Marcellus (verified owner)

    Hi Rico, I live in CO at about 5700′. If I seed trays and leave them outside on the shady side of the shed to cold strat them, will the inevitable colorado freezes of the spring lower the germ rate- I do not have a good place for them that is cool without freezing (other than fridge but mixing the seeds in moist substrate make for a pain in the butt to seed out into tray plugs later). And, preference on open flats vs. plug trays? Thank you for taking the time for reading!!

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    • Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      Hi Chloe, I think the described technique and freezes will increase germ rate, not decrease it. No real preference for deep flats vs plug trays–either way good I think–some plugs are too tiny though–skullcap is going to send out long roots early on in the game. Richo

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  5. Question

    Jennan

    Hi! I live in central Texas, in zone 8b. What times of year can this be seeded? I’m thinking I’m too late for a 2020 harvest, but wanted to check. Thanks!

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    • Richo Cech

      Admin Richo Cech

      Hi Jennan,
      I can’t imagine why you’d be late for a 2020 harvest when its still 2019. Standard horticultural technique with skullcap seed is always going to give some results although you can optimize by sowing in cold soil or refrigerator stratification.
      Richo

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    • Michael Darst

      So these seeds have not been stratified?

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    • Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      Hi Michael,
      These are dried seeds from the current harvest. They are not stratified. There is still plenty of time to start skullcap from seed at this time of year, and we do have plenty of plants in stock as well.
      Richo

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    • Michael Darst

      After germinating dozens of different type seeds this year with great success, stratified these seeds attempted germination. Out of 50 seeds I had 1 germinate on the 6th day, and that is all for my efforts.

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    • 2 out of 2 people found this helpful
      Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      Hi Michael,
      Well, it really doesn’t work to say that because one species germinated for you another one should germinate for you. Every species requires its own separate set of conditions to germinate. I, too, have had trouble trying to pre-chill seeds and get good results out of them. Sometimes I think it works better to just plant them and let nature take its course. In any case you have a couple of options. 1) try again, at least negative results (in a scientific sense) are good information to use. 2) get plants from us. We have lots of really nice Skullcap, and even if the tops die in transit, they still make great plants in good time from very solid rhizomatous roots. richo

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  6. Question

    Lynn

    When is the plant ready to harvest. Is it ok to make tea from fresh leaves Instead of dried. How tall does it get? Will it grow well indoors during cold months. Read that if the plant was contaminated from a certain plant, don’t remember name, that it could cause liver toxicity. I trust your company so I know your plants are pure but do you know if that’s the only cases of liver problems is from a plant that was crossed with that certain plant. . Thank you..

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    • Richo Cech

      Admin Richo Cech

      Hi Lynn.
      Thanks for contacting. The methods for preparing Scutellaria lateriflora are available in my book “Making Plant Medicine” and are a bit much for an e-mail. Basically the fresh plant tincture seems to be the most reliable. There used to be a concern for Teucrium contamination in dried herb from Europe. Since its an american herb buying directly from an american producer makes sense. Richo

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    • thenaekedgardener

      Speaking of Teucrium……. What is your thoughts on Teucrium marum and; marum camphor??? Especially making tea and tincture for human and feline medicine alike!?!
      Any chance of liver toxicity with Teucrium marum in comparison to Teucrium chamaedrys (Germander)???
      I’ve been trying to source this rare herb for some time now, knowing of the elusive marum camphor……… Will you ever consider growing and distributing
      Teucrium marum!??….

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    • Richo Cech

      Richo Cech

      hi naeked, Tuecrium marum contains the same neo-clerodane diterpenes that make T chamaedrys questionable. Richo

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  7. One person found this helpful

    Question

    Karen Bush (verified owner)

    Hello. I’m reading the description of Scutellaria lateriflora and cannot find out what TWM stands for. A google search yields nothing relevant. Can you please tell me?

    https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/product/skullcap-official-scutellaria-lateriflora-packet-of-100-seeds-organic/

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    • 2 out of 2 people found this helpful
      Richo Cech

      Admin Richo Cech

      TWM stands for Traditional Western Medicine as opposed to TCM which is Traditional Chinese MEdicine.

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  8. Question

    Tom Cramer (verified owner)

    is the 1 Gram amount available in the Skullcap seed? and if so when and what is the price- thanks tom

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