''Prunella'' is a genus of
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition o ...
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...
s in the family
Lamiaceae
The Lamiaceae ( )
or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...
, also known as self-heals, heal-all, or allheal for their use in
herbal medicine
Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remedie ...
.
Habitat
Most are native to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
, and North
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
, but ''Prunella vulgaris'' (common self-heal) is
Holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...
in distribution, occurring in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
as well, and is a common
lawn
A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...
weed. Prunellas are low-growing plants, and thrive in moist wasteland and grass, spreading rapidly to cover the ground. They are members of the mint family and have the square stem common to mints.
[
]
Biological descriptions
The common name "self-heal" derives from the use of some species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
to treat a range of minor disorder
Disorder may refer to randomness, non-order, or no intelligible pattern.
Disorder may also refer to:
Healthcare
* Disorder (medicine), a functional abnormality or disturbance
* Mental disorder or psychological disorder, a psychological pattern ...
s. Self-heal can be grown from seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...
, or by dividing clumps in spring or autumn.
;Species[
# '' Prunella albanica'' Pénzes – Albania
# '' Prunella × bicolor'' Beck – parts of Europe (''P. grandiflora × P. laciniata'')
# '' Prunella × codinae'' Sennen – Spain (''P. hyssopifolia × P. laciniata'')
# '' Prunella cretensis'' Gand. – Crete
# '' Prunella × gentianifolia'' Pau – Spain (''P. hyssopifolia × P. vulgaris'')
# '' Prunella grandiflora'' (L.) Scholler – central + southern Europe from Caucasus to Russia; Caucasus
# '' Prunella hyssopifolia'' L. – Spain, France, Italy, Morocco
# '' Prunella × intermedia'' Link – central + southwestern Europe (''P. laciniata × P. vulgaris'')
# '' Prunella laciniata'' (L.) L – central + southern Europe, North Africa, Middle East
# '' Prunella orientalis'' Bornm. – Turkey, Syria
# '' Prunella prunelliformis'' (Maxim.) Makino – Japan
# '' Prunella × surrecta'' Dumort. – central + southwestern Europe (''P. grandiflora × P. vulgaris'')
# '' Prunella vulgaris'' L. – widespread in Europe, North Africa, Asia, North America; naturalized in New Zealand, parts of South America
Subspecies are]
Uses
Traditional medicine
In the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...
, its juice was used by the Quinault and the Quileute on boils. They also used the whole plant to treat cuts and inflammations. Ointments can be made by fixing the plant with grease. Dried ''Prunella'' () is used to make a herbal drink.
Herbal tea for treating ozostomia caused by oral local lesion
Food uses
The mildly bitter leaves are also good as salad greens. ''Prunella'' species are used as food plants by the larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
...
e of some ''Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...
'' species including '' Coleophora albitarsella''.
As a health supplement
''Prunella vulgaris'' is used as an ingredient in some bodybuilding supplements.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q148652
Lamiaceae genera
Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine
Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus