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Prunella vulgaris
| Common name: |
Self-Heal |
Family: |
Labiatae |
| Author: |
L. |
Botanical references: |
17, 200 |
| Synonyms: |
|
| Known Hazards: |
None known |
| Range: |
Europe, including Britain, from Norway south and east to N. Africa and temperate Asia. |
| Habitat: |
Waste ground, grassland, woodland edges etc, usually on basic and neutral soils[9, 17]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
3 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 3 |
| Other Possible Synonyms: | From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below. |
| P. vulgaris ssp. lanceolata[B,C,P]
P. vulgaris ssp. vulgaris[B,C,P]
P. vulgaris var. atropurpurea[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. calvescens[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. elongata[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. hispida[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. lanceolata[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. minor[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. nana[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. parviflora[B,P]
P. vulgaris var. rouleauiana[B,P]
|
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Adi Erikotu [E], All-heal [H], Carpenter-weed [L], Common Selfheal [B,P], Consolida Minor [E], Consuelda Menor [E], Gewone Brunel [D], Heal All [H], Heal-all [L], Healall [E], Heart Of The Earth [H], Hsia Ku Ts'Ao [E], Lance Selfheal [P], Self Heal, Heal All [S], Self Heal, Heal All, Etc [S], Self-heal [H,L], Selfheal [E], Sicklewort [E], Xia Ku Cao [E], |
| Epithets: | From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets |
|
vulgaris = common
|
| Systematics: | From a USDA Plants Database |
|
Order: Lamiales. Renamed to Lamiaceae -- Mint family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
China
Europe Japan Spain Turkey Us Us(Amerindian) Us(Appalachia)
|
| Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds | From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia
, DEFRA Injurious Weeds | | Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive. |
Physical Characteristics
Perennial growing to 0.15m by 0.3m . It is hardy to zone 3 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.
We rate it 3/5 for edibility and
3/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.
The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.
It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.
It requires moist soil.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Meadow, Lawn, Ground Cover.Edible Uses
Drink
Leaves.
Leaves - raw or cooked[9]. They can be used in salads, soups, stews
etc[183]. Somewhat bitter due to the presence of tannin in the leaves, though
this can be removed by washing the leaves[177].
A cold water infusion of the freshly chopped or dried and powdered leaves is
used as a refreshing beverage[161, 183]. Very tasty[168].
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Alterative
Antibacterial Antibiotic Antipyretic Antiseptic Antispasmodic Astringent Carminative Diuretic Febrifuge Hypotensive Stomachic Styptic Tonic Vermifuge Vulnerary.
Self heal has a long history of folk use, especially in the treatment
of wounds, ulcers, sores etc[7]. It was also taken internally as a tea in the
treatment of fevers, diarrhoea, sore mouth, internal bleeding etc[4, 222]. In
Korea it is used to treat oedema, nephritis, scrofula and goitre[279].
The whole plant is alterative, antibacterial, antipyretic, antiseptic,
antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, diuretic, febrifuge, hypotensive,
stomachic, styptic, tonic, vermifuge and vulnerary[4, 9, 13, 21, 176, 218].
It has an antibacterial action, inhibiting the growth of Pseudomonas,
Bacillus typhi, E. coli, Mycobacterium tuberculi etc[176]. It can be used
fresh or dried, for drying it is best harvested in mid-summer[4].
The plant is experimentally antibiotic and hypotensive[218, 222]. We have a more details factsheet on the history and medicinal use of this plant. Email webmaster@pfaf.org for details.
Other Uses
Dye
Ground cover.
An olive-green dye is obtained from the flowers and stems[168].
The plant is a good ground-cover in sunny positions or light shade[200].
Cultivation details
Thrives in any damp soil[1], in full sun or in light shade[238].
Plants are apt to become troublesome weeds in turf that is at all damp[1].
Self heal is a good plant for growing in the spring meadow[24].
Propagation
Seed - sow in mid spring in a cold frame. When they are large enough to
handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in
the summer.
If you have sufficient seed then it can be sown outdoors in situ in mid to
late spring.
Division in spring or autumn. Very easy, larger divisions can be planted out
direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is better to pot
up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame
until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or
early summer.
Suppliers
Plants For A Future is working with the following groups to try and make these plants easily available. Parts of the proceeds will be donated to so please mention us when ordering.
- Wildwood Nurseries
-
Lower Manor Cottage
Thornbury
Holsworthy
Devon
EX22 7DD
Email: lorna@macace.co.uk
Phone 01409 261324
Fax 01409 261324
Distribution: UK
How to order: Direct from Wildwood by email/phone
Last Updated: March 03
Item:
Prunella vulgaris
(self-heal)
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
PFAF Web Pages
This plant is mentioned in the following web pages
Web References
- Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
- [H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [B] Data
(Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [S] Image
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [G] Data
(Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
- [C] Taxon data.
from the CalFlora database.
- Images
from the CalPhoto database.
- [PHARM] Phytochemical Data
(common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
- [S] SW USA Dist. Maps
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
References for Prunella vulgaris ssp. lanceolata (a possible synonym).
References for Prunella vulgaris ssp. vulgaris (a possible synonym).
References for prunella vulgaris (a possible synonym).
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).
[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
[7] Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. MacDonald 1984 ISBN 0-356-10541-5
Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
[24] Baines. C. Making a Wildlife Garden.
Fairly good with lots of ideas about creating wildlife areas in the garden.
[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.
[168] Grae. I. Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. 1974 ISBN 0-02-544950-8
A very good and readable book on dyeing.
[176] Yeung. Him-Che. Handbook of Chinese Herbs and Formulas. Institute of Chinese Medicine, Los Angeles 1985
A very good Chinese herbal.
[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
Readers Comments
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Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963 This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Prunella+vulgaris
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