Plant · P-739

Self Heal

Prunella vulgaris

Self Heal is a low, sprawling perennial that forms a dense mat of grey-green foliage topped with purple flower spikes from late spring through summer, native across most of North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa. Its common name comes from centuries of use as a wound and sore-throat remedy, and laboratory testing has since confirmed antibacterial activity in the plant. The leaves are edible raw or cooked, mildly bitter until the tannins wash out, and the flowers draw bumblebees, butterflies and the clouded sulphur butterfly through a bloom season that runs May to September. It thrives in damp ground and shrugs off mowing, which is exactly how it turns into a low-growing lawn form in turf that stays moist.