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White Dragonhead
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White Dragonhead
ative Photo: Tushar Bhagwat
Common name: White Dragonhead • Spiti: Kuramtoksay
Botanical name: Dracocephalum heterophyllum    Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

White Dragonhead is an aromatic perennial herb with white flowers, sometimes tinged mauve or pink, borne in large dense leafy cylindrical spikes up to 10 cm long and 2.5-4 cm across. Flower-spikes are often larger than the rest of the plant. Bracts are green, elliptic, lobed. Flowers are 2-3 cm long, hairy, with flower-tube inflated above. Sepal cup is up to 2 cm long, variable in size, hairless, with upper 3 teeth ovate, with bristly tips. Leaves are 2-3 cm, leathery, stalked, oblong-ovate with flat or heart-shaped base, margins rounded-toothed. Stem is stout, 15-20 cm long. White Dragonhead is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to SE Tibet, at altitudes of 3000-5000 m. Flowering: June-August.

Identification credit: Prashant Awale Photographed enroute to Tsomoriri Lake, Ladakh.

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