Selfheal Prunella vulgaris
Table of Contents
Selfheal or heal-all is a low-growing herbaceous plant that produces clusters of violet-purple flowers. It’s an edible plant and as its name suggests it has medicinal properties and is used to treat many illnesses and ailments.
Plant family: Lamiaceae
Aliases: Heal-all, hookweed, sicklewort
Flowering period: June – September
Flower colour: Violet – blue
Preferred soil type: Most types
Habitat: Grassland, open woodland, lawns
Status: Common
General information
Selfheal is a low-growing, herbaceous, perennial wildflower that’s native to Europe and other regions of the world. It’s proffered habitat is grassland, such as meadows, roadside verges and turf. It can be a nuisance to gardeners as it’s also common on lawns, but is relatively easy to control.
The bright purple flowers are very similar to those of bugle, to which it’s occasionally mistaken for. It reaches about 30cm in height and isn’t fussy about the soil, it’ll grow on most types and it spreads by seed and vegetatively by creeping runners, rooting at the nodes.
Identification
Flower: The flowers appear in dense clusters on cylindrical terminal heads, they are are violet – purple, 10-15mm long, are two-lipped and tubular. The upper lip is concave, whilst lower lip is occasionally white and has 3 lobes, with the middle lobe being larger.
Leaves: The leaves are oval – lanced shaped, between 10 – 30mm long, can be both dark and light green, with prominent veins. The leaf edges are sometime scalloped and the surfaces are mostly smooth, but light hairs are not uncommon.
Value for wildlife
Selfheal is a nectar producing plant and is very attractive to all types of bee, butterflies, hoverflies and birds.
Uses for selfheal
Selfheal is an edible herb and can be consumed raw or cooked. The young leaves added to salads, soup and broths. They can also be used in a pot herb and substitute for spinach
As its name suggests, selfheal has various medicinal properties. It has been used to prevent bleeding, treat viral and respiratory infection, sooth inflammations, cure headaches, treat heart problems and diabetes.
Selfheal images
Click to enlarge
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to use, share and adapt any of the images on this page, under the condition we receive a followed backlink to our website https://diversegardens.co.uk as the image source.
