''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 ...

plant Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...

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, savo ...

, also known as self-heals, heal-all, or allheal for their use in herbal medicine.

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

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 ...

, 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 regi ...

in distribution, occurring in North America 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 A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

. 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 Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

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 ''Prunella vulgaris'', the common self-heal, heal-all, woundwort, heart-of-the-earth, carpenter's herb, brownwort or blue curls, is a herbaceous plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. Self-heal is edible: the young leaves and stems can be eaten raw ...

'' L. – widespread in Europe, North Africa, Asia, North America; naturalized in New Zealand, parts of South America Subspecies are * ''Prunella vulgaris'' ssp. ''aleutica'' (Fernald) Hultén – Aleutian selfheal * ''Prunella vulgaris'' ssp. ''lanceolata'' (W. Bartram) Hultén – lance selfheal * ''Prunella vulgaris'' ssp. ''vulgaris'' (L.) – common selfheal

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. Though ...

, its juice was used by the

Quinault Quinault may refer to: * Quinault people, an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast **Quinault Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe **Quinault language, their language People * Quinault family of actors, including * Jean-Baptist ...

and the

Quileute The Quileute , are a Native American people in western Washington state in the United States, currently numbering approximately 2,000. They are a federally recognized tribe: the ''Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation''. The Quileute peo ...

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. Prunella is also used for halitosis, especially when combined with other herbs (e.g.

perilla ''Perilla'' is a genus consisting of one major Asiatic crop species ''Perilla frutescens'' and a few wild species in nature belonging to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus encompasses several distinct varieties of Asian herb, seed, and veget ...

field mint ''Mentha arvensis'', the corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to ...

, etc.)
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. Th ...

e of some '' Lepidoptera'' species including '' Coleophora albitarsella''.

As a health supplement

''Prunella vulgaris'' is used as an ingredient in some

bodybuilding supplement Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in bodybuilding, weightlifting, mixed martial arts, and athletics for the purpose of facilitating an increase in lean body mass. Bodybuilding supplements may contain ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q148652 Lamiaceae genera Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus