Foothills, montane. Woodlands, shrublands, openings. Summer.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, June 19, 2005.

Dracocephalum parviflorum has light green, coarsely toothed leaves which stand stiffly out in an open, airy pattern from an erect, thick, square stem.  When you spot one plant, you will often find a dozen more in the same area, but spotting the first is the challenge.  Flowers are tiny and light pink in a swirl at the tip of the tall stem.

Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  The Greek "Dracon" means "dragon" and "cephalos", "head".  "Parviflorum" is Latin for "small flower".

Thomas Nuttall, Harvard Professor of Botany, naturalist, and explorer collected this species in 1811 along the Missouri River near Fort Mandan, North Dakota, and described and named it in his Genera of North American Plants in 1818. (Click the title to read.)

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, shrublands, openings. Summer.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, June 19, 2005.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, shrublands, openings. Summer.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, June 19, 2005.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for  Dracocephalum parviflorum