Selfheal

Self Heal (Prunella Vulgaris) also known as Heal-All, Woundwort, Heart-of-the-Earth and Carpenter’s Herb, is an edible, perenial member of the mint family. It can either be a diminutive, little, creeping flower which hugs the ground or it can grow quite tall with stems reaching up to about a foot in height, with flower spikes well over 2 inches in length. In European herbal traditions the aerial parts of the flower are collected just before, and/or during, flowering, but in China they tend to wait until the flowers die and dry naturally before harvesting. I’m not sure what different medicinal effect this would produce, if any, but according to what I’ve read, apparently in China the focus is much more on its use as a liver herb. (So perhaps ’hepaprotective’ should be added to its list of actions below) Regardless, it has been a valued plant ally around the world for many centuries and as we’ve seen, has many more uses than I could mention here. It’s medicinal actions are:

- hemostatic, astringent, demulcent, vulnerary, hypotensive, an inflammatory modulator, immune system-modulator, antiviral, diuretic and probably more besides.

it is used to treat:

Cancers, upper respiratory infections, auto-immune conditions, ulcers - especially of the mouth and throat, haemorrhoids, eye infections, high blood pressure, herpes, allergies, for drawing infection out of abcesses and boils, for wounds, burns, bites and stings. Depending on the person and situation, there are many anecdotal instances where Self Heal is said to have ”turned around” a chronic condition, provoking a healing response from the body.