Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Prunella vulgaris
self-heal
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Moist areas, sea level to moderate elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: May-September

Origin: Both native and introduced

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, butterflies

Description:
General:

Perennial herbs from a short rhizome, the erect or decumbent, solitary or clustered stems 1-5 dm. tall, loosely puberulent or glabrous.

Leaves:

Leaves opposite, petiolate, few, cauline and usually basal also, mostly entire, the blade elliptic to broadly ovate, 2-9 cm. long and 0.7-4 cm. wide, the lower leaves broader than the upper.

Flowers:

Flowers in verticels, crowded in dense, bracteate, terminal spikes 2-5 cm. long and 1.5-2 cm. thick; the bracts about 1 cm. long, ovate and short-acuminate, sharply differentiated from the leaves; calyx 7-10 mm. long, green or purple, two-lipped, the upper lip broad, shallowly 3-toothed, the lower deeply cleft with 2 narrow segments; corolla two-lipped, usually blue-violet, 1-2 cm. long, the tube equaling the calyx, the lips short; stamens 4, enclosed by the hood-like upper lip of the corolla, the lower pair the longer; style 2-parted; ovary 2-celled, superior.

Fruits:

Nutlets 4

Accepted Name:
Prunella vulgaris L.
Publication: Sp. Pl. 2: 600. 1753.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
(none provided)
Infraspecies:
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Prunella vulgaris in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WA Flora Checklist: Prunella vulgaris checklist entry.

OregonFlora: Prunella vulgaris information.

E-Flora BC: Prunella vulgaris atlas page.

CalPhotos: Prunella vulgaris photos.

USDA Plants: Prunella vulgaris information.

94 photographs:
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