Montane, subalpine. Openings, scree. Summer.
Lizard Head Trail, June 23, 2000.

The tiny flowers of Figwort range from red, yellow, and orange to brown and green. Coupled to these tiny flowers is a tall plant with large leaves -- definitely an aesthetic mismatch.  But Figwort doesn’t seem to mind our values and often places itself in full view at trail-side.  

Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  "Scrophularia" is from the Latin for "a tumor or glandular swelling"; the name was given to this plant because of a bygone belief that it cured this human affliction.  "Lanceolata" is from the Latin "lance" and refers to the leaf shape.

Scrophularia lanceolata was first collected for science by Frederick Pursh in Pennsylvania early in the 1800s.  The plant is found from coast to coast in all but the southern states.  Pursh named and described the plant in his 1814 Flora Americae Septentrionalis.

Montane, subalpine. Openings, scree. Summer.
Lizard Head Trail, June 20, 2005.