White Turtlehead
Chelone glabra
White turtlehead really does look like one — hooded white tubes flushed pink at the lip, packed into a dense late-summer spike and held shut tightly enough that a bumblebee has to force its way in. It is the primary larval host for the Baltimore checkerspot, and it wants steady moisture at a pond edge or in a rain garden. Young shoots and leaves have documented food use among the Cherokee, though the plant is better known as a bitter tonic herb.
- Family
- Plantaginaceae
- Type
- wildflower
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 2–3 ft
- Spacing
- 1.5–2.5 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist, wet
- Soil pH
- alkaline, neutral
- Bloom
- July, August, September
- Bloom colors
- white, pink
- Wildlife value
- butterflies, hummingbirds, larval host
- Landscape uses
- border, rain garden
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV