Obedient plant is a native mint-family perennial of eastern North America, with tall spikes of pink to lavender flowers from midsummer into fall in wet meadows, along streambanks, and in gardens. Its name comes from a quirk: push one of its flowers to the side and it tends to stay put. It's also called false dragonhead.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A clump-forming perennial with stiff, square stems 2–4 ft (0.6–1.2 m) tall that spreads by underground runners.
- Leaves
- Opposite, lance-shaped, sharply toothed, 1–3 in (2.5–8 cm) long.
- Flowers
- Snapdragon-like tubular flowers about 1 in (2.5 cm) long, pale purple to rose pink, in tall spikes that open from the bottom up.
- Flowering time
- July through October in North Carolina.
- Fruit
- After flowering, each vase-shaped cup left behind holds four small, black, three-sided seeds.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- wet meadows
- streambanks
- prairies and glades
- gardens
- Range
- Native from eastern Canada through the eastern and central US to northern Mexico; the southern form reaches Texas and New Mexico.
- Preferred conditions
- Likes moist to wet soil in sun; it usually grows in wetlands but also turns up on drier prairies and .
- Flowering
Flowers Jul–Oct
Flowers Jul–Oct
Growing it
- Care
- Hardy in USDA zones 2–9 and deer resistant. In rich, moist soil it can spread aggressively and flop, so divide clumps every year or two or stake tall plants.
- Propagation
- Spreads by to form patches; easy to divide.
Name and classification
- About the name
- There is a southern and a northern form: the southern obedient plant (ssp. praemorsa), with larger flowers and no runners, on dry prairies and glades from the South to Texas and New Mexico; and the common obedient plant (ssp. virginiana), with smaller flowers, spreading by runners in wetter places farther north and west. Many garden plants fall between the two. The name false dragonhead points to the related dragonheads (Dracocephalum), where this plant was once placed.
- Varieties and forms
- Garden cultivars come in white, bright pink, white-variegated leaf, and less-spreading forms.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
More species to explore
Record what you meet and build your own collection
Your photos are kept with their date and place, and you can fill regional albums one species at a time.