Baikal Skullcap

Scutellaria baicalensis

Origin: East Asia

Improvement status: Cultivated wild material

Seeds per packet: ~35

Germination tested 12/2025: 96%

Life cycle: Perennial

Baikal Skullcap is one of the 50 fundamental herbs of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The root is known as "Huang-qin", and it has been used for ailments from diarrhea to high blood pressure, chronic hepatitis to threatened miscarriage. It has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects as well. The plant can be eaten as a vegetable when young, and the leaves are dried to make tea. It also happens to be a beautiful garden flower. It puts on a show starting in July for a couple months, and pollinators love it.

Our seed comes from EFN collaborator Andy Hahn in Colorado.

GROWING TIPS: You can sow directly outside in early spring if you prefer, with the eventual plant spacing of about a foot between plants. Or start seeds indoors and transplant outside after danger of last frost.