Prunella vulgaris L.

Common selfheal, heal-all, heart-of-the-earth

Heal-all is a common native of North America, Europe, and Asia. It is a member of the mint family.

Plants: 1¾–16″ (5–40 cm) high, usually toward the small end of this. It is often found in lawns. Stems are approximately square in cross section, green or reddish, and lightly to densely hairy.

Leaves: 2 ⨉ ¾″ (6 ⨉ 2 cm), oval or sometimes lance-shaped, on fairly long petioles (leaf stems).

Flowers: The flowers appear on spikes at the top. They look uneven and disheveled because they don’t bloom all at once. Each flower is about ⅜″ (1 cm) around, purple on top and white below, and bilaterally symmetrical: if you cut it in half vertically, the halves are mirror images. The lower center petal has a ragged edge. Flowers appear from June to August.

Fruits: Each flower produces four tiny seeds, which are located in the calyx.

Habitats: Roadsides, gardens, waste-places, and woodland edges, usually in basic and neutral soils.

Edibility: Leaves are edible raw, though somewhat bitter; or cooked, which tastes better but forfeits nutrients.

Medical: As heal-all’s name suggests, it has long been used in folk medicine, for a wide range of symptoms. Symptoms include fevers, rheumatism, liver ailments, eye problems, swollen glands, urinary problems, sore throats; heal-all was also used as an antibiotic and general cure-all. Even today, it is sometimes used to treat minor injuries such as sores, burns, or bruises, and as a mouthwash for mouth ulcers. However, I was not able to find any definitive studies on these medicinal properties.

Some similar species.

Online References:

 

Prunella vulgaris description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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