Self heal, Hierba mora

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.

Es una especie de planta medicinal con flores, perteneciente a la familia Lamiaceae (Mentas).
Es una planta perenne de hasta 60 cm de altura, más o menos pubescente. Tallo cuadrado de color violáceo de hasta 50 cm de altura, aunque generalmente no sobrepasan los 30 cm, erecto. Las hojas alcanzan 2-5 cm de largo, son opuestas y algo dentadas, cuneadas en la base, con peciolo de hasta 4 cm de longitud. Las flores son de color azul violeta que se agrupan en espigas terminales, cáliz tubular con 5 dientes y un anillo de pelos en su interior; corola bilabiada de 13 a 15 mm de longitud, de color violeta azulado oscuro. Fruto constituido por 4 nuececillas. Florece en primavera y verano.
Propiedades medicinales:
Por vía interna es útil en las diarreas.
En forma de gárgaras se utiliza para caso de anginas o faringitis.
Para la hemorroides se consume en ensaladas.
Como cataplasma se usa en la cauterización de heridas a través de la alantoína.

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. In the United Kingdom it is abundant throughout Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. In the Republic of Ireland it is currently abundant in the west in the counties Galway and Clare, the southwest in Kerry, the south coast, and is also found around the central basin of Ireland. It is often found growing in waste ground, grassland, woodland edges, and usually in basic and neutral soils.
It is grown in any damp soil in full sun or in light shade.

Se le encuentra en Europa, Asia y Norteamérica, así como en muchos climas templados. Es originaria de las zonas templadas de Asia y Europa. Crece en lugares húmedos cercanos a bosques y corrientes de agua.