Common Selfheal, Prunella vulgaris

About Common Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) 13 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Prunella vulgaris, known as common selfheal, heal-all, heart-of-the-earth or h kh tho in Vietnamese, is a medicinal plant in the genus Prunella. It grows from 1 to 2 feet high, 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, 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; Mostly from June to August. For medicinal purposes, the whole plant is gathered when the flowers bloom, and dried. The leaves and small flowers of heal-all are edible. Heal-all is a perennial herb found throughout Europe, Asia, Japan and the United States of 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 counties Galway and Clare, the south-west 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, usually on basic and neutral soils. It is grown in any damp soil in full sun or in light shade. Seeds are sown in very early spring in a flat outdoor area.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Perennial herb

Size

1 - 2 ft tall
6 - 9 in wide

Form

Mounding, Spreading, Upright

Growth Rate

Fast

Fragrance

Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color

Purple, Pink

Flowering Season

Summer

Wildlife Supported

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture

Low, Moderate - High,

Summer Irrigation

Keep moist

Nurseries

Carried by 13

Ease of Care

Very Easy

Cold Tolerance

Tolerates cold to -5° F

Soil Drainage

Fast, Medium

Soil Description

Prefers damp sandy loam. Soil PH: 6.1 - 7.8

Common uses

Groundcovers, Deer Resistant

Companion Plants

Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor), willows (Salix spp.), Pacific Ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus), Blue Wildrye (Elymus glaucus).

Maintenance

Selfheal is generally impervious to most pests, but beware of predation by slugs and snails on young plants.

Propagation?

Can be propagated by seed (no treatment necessary), by plant divisions, or by planting stolons. Stolon propogation yields larger plants in a shorter amount of time. Collect seeds from the flowering heads at the end of the growing season.

Natural Setting

Site Type

Found in a variety of places, including forest edges, meadows, and vernal wetlands.

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 5.9" - 154.0", Summer Precipitation: 0.15" - 5.80", Coldest Month: 27.7" - 54.6", Hottest Month: 47.3" - 79.3", Humidity: 0.01" - 29.10", Elevation: 2" - 8459"

Alternative Names

Common Names: Self-heal

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Common Selfheal

Prunella vulgaris

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Common SelfhealPrunella vulgaris

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Common Selfheal

Prunella vulgaris