Prunella vulgaris

Prunella vulgaris (known as common self-heal, heal-all, woundwort, heart-of-the-earth, carpenter's herb, brownwort and blue curls) is a herbaceous plant in the genus Prunella. Self-heal is edible: the young leaves and stems can be eaten raw in salads; the plant in whole can be boiled and eaten as a potherb; and the aerial parts of the plant can be powdered and brewed in a cold infusion to make a beverage. Prunella vulgaris grows 5 to 30 cm high (2-12inches), with creeping, self-rooting, tough, square, reddish stems branching at leaf axis. The leaves are lance shaped, serrated and reddish at the tip, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long and 1.5 cm (half an inch) broad, and growing in opposite pairs down the square stem. Each leaf has 3-7 veins that shoot off the middle vein to the margin. The stalks of the leaves are generally short, but can be up to 5 cm (2 inches) long. The flowers grow from a clublike, somewhat square, whirled cluster; immediately below this club is 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 in summer (from June to August in the USA). Self-heal propagates both by seed and vegetatively by creeping stems that root at the nodes. Heal-all is a perennial herb found throughout Europe, Asia and North America, as well as most temperate climates. In Ireland it is generally abundant. Roadsides, gardens and waste-places. Woodland edges, and usually in basic and neutral soils.