Selfheal or Heal-all

Description:

Prunella vulgaris, known as common selfheal, heal-all, heart-of-the-earth, is a medicinal plant in the genus Prunella. It grows 5 to 30 cms high[1] (2-12inches), with creeping, self-rooting, tough, square, reddish stems branching at leaf axis. The leaves are lance shaped, serrated, and reddish at tip, about an inch long and 1/2 inch broad, and grow on short stalks in opposite pairs down the square stem. The flowers grow from a clublike, somewhat square, whirled cluster; immediately below this club are a pair of stalkless leaves standing out on either side like a collar. Flowers are two lipped and tubular. The top lip is a purple hood, and the bottom lip is often white; it has three lobes with the middle lobe being larger and fringed upwardly. Flowers bloom at different times depending on climate and other conditions, but mostly from June to August.[2] For medicinal purposes, the whole plant is gathered and dried when the flowers are in bloom. The leaves and small flowers of heal-all are edible.

Habitat:

Heal-all is a perennial herb found throughout Europe, Asia and North America, as well as most temperate climates. Its origin seems to be European, though it has been documented in other countries since before any history of travel.

Notes:

Heal-all is both edible and medicinal. It is often used in salads, soups, stews, and boiled as a pot herb. It has been used as an alternative medicine for centuries all over the world and for many ailments. It is taken internally as a medicinal tea in the treatment of fevers, diarrhoea, sore mouth and throat, internal bleeding, and weaknesses of the liver and heart. Heal-all was once proclaimed to be a holy herb and was thought to be sent by God to cure all ailments of man or beast. It was said to drive away the devil, which led to the belief that heal-all was grown in witches' gardens as a disguise. The root was also used to make a tea that Native Americans used to drink in ceremonies before going hunting to sharpen their powers of observation.