Moor King Lousewort

Herbs perennial, to 60 cm tall, glabrous or sparsely ciliolate. Stems often single. Basal leaves in a rosette; petiole to 12 cm; leaf blade oblanceolate to linear-oblong, to 30 X 4 cm, pinnatifid to pinnatisect; segments 7--17 pairs, ovate to oblong, pinnatilobate, incised-double dentate, teeth white and callose. Stem leaves few, alternate or in pseudo-whorls of 3, similar to basal leaves but smaller. Inflorescences to more than 20 cm. Flowers often pseudo-opposite or in pseudo-whorls, lax; bracts broadly ovate. Calyx 1--1.5 cm; lobes serrate. Corolla yellow, sometimes purple-red at apex of lower lip and galea, to 3.8 cm, glabrous except on galea; tube ca. 1.5 cm; lips connivent; galea falcate, densely bearded along margin (corolla otherwise glabrous); lower lip with middle lobe entire. Filaments glabrous apically. Capsule globose, ca. 2 cm, short mucronate. Fl. Jun--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep. 2n = 32.

Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia; C and N Europe]

Swampy woods, moist banks, marshy meadows; 400--500 m.

Pedicularis sceptrum-carolinum, commonly known as moor-king or moor-king lousewort, is a plant species in the genus Pedicularis.