Self-heal - Prunella vulgaris

• Family: Lamiaceae- Mint/Deadnettle family ^[E-flora]
• Other Names: (common selfheal)^[E-flora]

Identification

• SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
  • Prunella vulgaris ssp. lanceolata
  • Prunella vulgaris ssp. vulgaris ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}

"Prunella vulgaris is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.2 m (0ft 8in) by 0.3 m (1ft).
It is hardy to zone (UK) 3 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from Jul to September, and the seeds ripen from Aug to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil."[PFAF]

• Synonyms
  • Prunella caroliniana P. Mill. ^[E-flora]
  • Prunella vulgaris var. elongata Benth. ^[E-flora]
  • Prunella vulgaris var. lanceolata (W. Bartram) Fernald ^[E-flora]
  • Prunella vulgaris var. vulgaris L. [superfluous autonym]^[E-flora]
• General: Perennial herb from an enlarged stem-base or short rhizome, fibrous-rooted; stems solitary or clustered, erect to spreading or reclining, 10-50 cm long, short-hairy to glabrous, 4-angled. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}
• Leaves: All stem leaves or some basal; opposite, lanceolate or elliptic to broadly egg-shaped, 2-7 cm long, 0.7-4 cm wide, entire or obscurely toothed, glabrous or lightly hairy; stalks 5-30 mm long; lower leaves often broader with more rounded base than upper. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}
• Flowers: Inflorescence of many flowers in dense terminal spikes, 2-5 cm long, about 1.5-2 cm wide, usually subtended by upper leaves; bracts kidney- to egg-shaped, about 1 cm long, reddish, tips pointed, margins hairy; corollas tubular, blue-violet or occasionally pink or white, 10-15 mm long in bisexual flowers, 8-11 mm long in pistillate flowers, fine-hairy inside, 2-lipped, the upper lip hood-like and entire, the lower lip 3-lobed with broad middle lobe; calyces dark green to purplish, 7-10 mm long, 2-lipped, lips longer than tube, the upper lip squared-off and with 3 short awns, the lower lip with 2 lanceolate spine-tipped teeth. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}
• Fruits: Nutlets, 4 clustered together, egg-shaped, smooth. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}
  
• Habitat / Range Mesic to dry roadsides, waste places, lawns, fields and open forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC, S of 57degreeN; ssp. lanceolata - N to AK, E to NF and S to NC, KA, NM and CA, ssp. vulgaris - introduced from Eurasia. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]} "Prunella vulgaris is indigenous to Europe and Asia and practically all temperate regions of the world." [PDR]
• Origin Status:
  • Native (ssp. lanceolata)
    
  • Exotic (ssp.vulgaris)^[E-flora]

Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:
1. Principal stem leaves egg-shaped to oblong (averaging half as broad as long), broadly wedge-shaped or rounded at base.................... ssp. vulgaris
1. Principal stem leaves lanceolate to egg-shaped (averaging one-third as broad as long), narrowly wedge- shaped to abruptly pointed at base.................. ssp. lanceolata (Bart.) Hult. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]}

USDA Flower Colour: Purple
USDA Blooming Period: Mid Summer
USDA Fruit/Seed characteristics:

Colour:Green

Present from Summer to Fall

^{[USDA-E-flora]}

Hazards

• "No health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages." ^[PDR]

Edible Uses

• Leaves Raw or cooked[9]. They can be used in salads, soups, stews etc[183]. ^[PFAF] Sauté small leaves with stinging nettle and add to soups. [Meuninch EWPUH]
  • Palatability:Somewhat bitter due to the presence of tannin in the leaves, though this can be removed by washing the leaves[177]. ^[PFAF]
    
• Beverage: A cold water infusion of the freshly chopped or dried and powdered leaves is used as a refreshing beverage[161, 183]. Very tasty[168]. ^[PFAF] Aerial parts made into an infusion with mint leaves and a twist of lime.[Meuninch EWPUH]

Other Uses

• Dye: An olive-green dye is obtained from the flowers and stems[168]. ^[PFAF]

Medicinal Uses

Self heal has a long history of folk use, especially in the treatment of wounds, ulcers, sores etc[7]. It was also taken internally as a tea in the treatment of fevers, diarrhoea, sore mouth, internal bleeding etc[4, 222]. In Korea it is used to treat oedema, nephritis, scrofula and goitre[279]. ^[PFAF]

• Whole Plant "Self-Heal [Whole flowering plant] is used for inflammatory diseases and ulcers in the mouth and throat, gastrointestinal catarrh, as a remedy for diarrhea, hemorrhage and gynecological disorders." [PDR]
  • Harvesting: It can be used fresh or dried, for drying it is best harvested in mid-summer[4]. ^[PFAF]
  • Dosage: "Self-Heal is available as crude drug, as an extract and as a gargle solution....To prepare a tea, use 1 dessertspoon of the drug per cup of water."^[PDR] One tbsp dry herb/cup water; or do as they do in West Virginia, eat a half cup of “eel-oil” greens (JAD). [HMH Duke] Fresh Plant Tincture, [1:2], as needed.[Moore(1995)]
  • Liver & Gallbladder: Documented use by the Chinese for more than 2,200 years, selfheal used for liver complaints and improving the function of the liver. The whole plant used in infusion to stimulate the liver and gallbladder and promote healing—considered alterative, and capable of changing the course of a chronic disease.[Meuninch EWPUH]
  • Tonic/Beverage: Nlaka'pamux of British Columbia made a cold beverage and tonic by soaking the plants in cold water for several hours. [Turner&Kuhnlein]
• Antimicrobial: It has an antibacterial action, inhibiting the growth of Pseudomonas, Bacillus typhi, E. coli, Mycobacterium tuberculi etc [176]. ^[PFAF]
• Dermatological Aid: The leaves contain a medicinal drug (Clute, 1943) and were used by the Washington and other Indian groups for placing on boils, cuts, bruises, and skin inflammations (Gunther, 1945). They were probably used on the Island for this purpose also. ^{[Turner&Bell]} It is known that silverweed has been used to try to remove the marks of smallpox (Billson), Steeped in buttermilk, as a cosmetic, to remove freckles and brownness (Black). Gerardalso advised its use: “the distilled water takes away freckles, spots, pimples in the face, and sun-burning: but the herb laid to infuse or steep in white wine is far better: but the best of all is to steepe it in strong white wine vinegar, the face being often bathed or washed therewith”. The cosmetic use was recorded even earlier, in Anglo-Saxon times (Cockayne).^{[DPL Watts]}
• HSV: Used against Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 [Buhner Antivirals]

Ethnobotany

Medicinal Use

• Prunella vulgaris has had three principal but distinct functions in folk medicine: to staunch bleeding, to ease respiratory complaints and to treat heart trouble.^[MPFT]
• "...charcoal burners applied it to cuts and bruises as recently as World War II."^[MPFT]
• The second function, as a treatment for colds and respiratory problems, was reportedly popular c. 1700 in several parts of Wales. Elsewhere in the Hebrides a tea made from self-heal and tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) was once drunk for cooling the blood. Irish herb doctors gave it frequently, boiled in a posset,‘in all sorts of common continual fevers, some also in intermittent ones’.... but it is in the more particular guise of a remedy for easing tubercular coughs that it features in the later records....There was a saying in those parts that you could tell whether a person had this fever-like illness, known there under the name mionnérach, by rubbing the plant in the hand and seeing if a froth developed.^[MPFT]
• The third main function of the plant, as a heart remedy, appears to have been exclusively Irish, recorded especially along the western coast but also farther east. A presumably related use, in some unspecified part of Eire, has been for a sudden stroke (or poc).^[MPFT]
• Also used to rid children of worms, as a treatment for piles, a cure for eczema,as a remedy for ‘a pain in the back’ (renal colic?) and for ‘weak blood’.^[MPFT]

Ayurvedic

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), although largely neglected by Western herbalists, is an important herb in Chinese medicine. The bitters have a stimulating action on the liver and gallbladder, and selfheal is prescribed for symptoms of jaundice and liver problems. It is also recommended for gout. Self-heal is used for headaches, particularly when related to tension and photophobia. Research has indicated that Prunella has a potent antiviral action, including activity against HIV (Zheng 1990, Yamasaki et al 1993). This combined with an immunomodulatory effect of the polysaccharides (Markova et al 1997) makes Prunella well worth bearing in mind when considering immunity especially since it grows as a weed in temperate climates. Rosmarinic acid contributes to antioxidant effects of Prunella (Lamaison et al 1991), whilst trials suggest it has antimutagenic effects, indicating possible use as an anticancer herb (Lee and Lin 1988). Self-heal can also be taken for swollen glands, mumps, glandular fever and mastitis. As an astringent, it can be taken for diarrhoea and colitis. [McIntyre AHTC]

Pharmacology

• Experimental Pharmacology: The plant is experimentally antibiotic and hypotensive[218, 222]. ^[PFAF]

Phytochemicals

Cultivation

Thrives in any damp soil[1], in full sun or in light shade[238]. Plants are apt to become troublesome weeds in turf that is at all damp[1]. Self heal is a good plant for growing in the spring meadow[24].^[PFAF]

Propagation

Seed - sow in mid spring in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. If you have sufficient seed then it can be sown outdoors in situ in mid to late spring. Division in spring or autumn. Very easy, larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is better to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a cold frame until they are well established before planting them out in late spring or early summer.[PFAF]

Fungi

• In a study of the effects of different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on the growth of the clonal plant Prunella vulgaris, Streitwolf-Engel et al. (2001) showed that the number of ramets produced by the plant was significantly related to the mycorrhizal species (Fig. 5.5). They also showed, however, that stolon length and spacing between daughter plantlets was determined by host genotype, not directly under the influence of the mycorrhizal partner.[Dighton FEP]
• A plant species with a high mycorrhizal dependency. It acquires large amounts of nutrients from AMF. Streitwolf-Engel et al. (2001) provides some clues about whether or not host specificity is evolving in Prunella vulgaris, a plant species which is a good candidate to evolve host specificity since it is known to vary greatly in its response to different AMF species.[Heijden ME]

References

• E-flora - http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Prunella%20vulgaris [Accessed: 3/26/2015]
• PFAF - Prunella vulgaris - L., http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Prunella+vulgaris, Accessed March 26, 2015