About Meehania cordata (Nutt.) Britton
The genus Meehania was named by Nathaniel Lord Britton in honor of the late Thomas Meehan, a Philadelphia-based botanist. All Meehania are dicot perennial plants, with a calyx that is rather obliquely 5-toothed and 15-nerved. Their corolla is large and expanded at the throat; the upper lip is somewhat flattened or concave, 2-lobed, while the lower lip is 3-cleft, with the middle lobe being the largest. There are 4 ascending stamens, with the lower pair shorter; anther-cells are parallel. Meehania are low, stoloniferous herbs that bear pale purplish flowers. Meehania cordata is one of the seven species in the genus Meehania, and it was first named by English botanist Thomas Nuttall. This species is a low-growing, hairy plant with slender runners. Its leaves are broadly heart-shaped, crenate, and borne on petioles; the floral leaves are shorter than the calyx. Few-flowered whorls grow at the summit of short ascending stems. The corolla is hairy on the inside, and measures 2–3.5 cm (13⁄16–1+3⁄8 in) long. The stamens are shorter than the upper lip of the corolla. This species is mostly found in eastern North America, specifically in the U.S. states of Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
