Jo Hain lives on a farm in Cerro Gordo county and likes to explore and photograph nature.

I was in my garden a couple years ago and I noticed some plants coming up. Looked like catnip to me, so I left it alone. It got taller and no longer looked like catnip.

Then I thought it was Stinging Nettle, so I didn’t want to touch it. I used my plant app and it said it was American Dragonhead (Dracocephalum parviflorum).

Plant apps are useful but not always correct. So I did look it up and, yes, it was American dragonhead. I posted it to the Iowa wildflower enthusiasts Facebook group. Someone confirmed it there as well.

American dragonhead is a member of the Mint family. It can be just an annual, but here where I live, it tends to be a short-lived perennial. The last two years, it has come up near my front door. (Minnesota Wildflowers describes the plant as “something of a weedy species, popping up in disturbed soils.”)

According to the Biota of North America Program (BONAP), American dragonhead is a native plant but only recorded in a handful of Iowa counties. My county (Cerro Gordo) is not one of them. This year, I did take photos of it as it emerged from winter slumber.

American dragonhead leaves emerging in March

The height varies between 8″-30.” It blooms from May to August. Where I live, I’ve noticed that American dragonhead blooms mainly in June and is done by July.

My intention was to photograph it monthly, but my husband was weed whacking and I thought he got it. (He didn’t.)

A closer look at the stems:

A closer look at the toothed leaves:

A closer look at the flowers:

Last year, I took some photos of the American dragonhead plants after they finished blooming.

I do look forward to watching it come up!

According to Illinois Wildflowers, at least a dozen bee species visit American dragonhead flowers. I captured one of them in this photo: