Author

Karl Hartdegen

Common Name(s)

common self-heal, heal-all, carpenter weed

Electronic links

U.S.D.A. PLANTS Database species profile: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PRVU

Ecology

Grows in fields, disturbed sites, open woods, pastures, road-sides, and lawns.

Family

Lamiaceae (Labiatae) -- mint family

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Flowering period

April to June, sometimes later.

Flowers

Calyx 5-lobed, zygomorphic, upper lip often with 3, short, ciliate teeth, about one-half as long as corolla, usually 10-nerved, pubescent; closed at maturity.

Corolla zygomorphic, strongly 2-lipped, upper lip arched, lower lip spreading and 3 lobed, purple, lavender or occasionally white. 

Stamens 4, tucked under upper lip, didynamous, exserted; filaments two tooth one bearing a fertile anther, the other sterile.

Pistil bicarpellate, ovary 4-lobed, style gynobasic; style 2-cleft, each branch slender and apically acute.

Fruit

Each ovary lobe splitting into 4 1-seeded mericarps; dark brown, obovoid, 1.8--2.2 mm long, surfaces ribbed.

Geographic distribution

Grows throughout the U.S. Found in all but some of the coastal and Mississippi River floodplain parishes.

Inflorescences

Flowers in clusters of 3 at each inflorescence node, these arranged into dense spikes (thyrses) 2--5 cm long; leaf-like bracts associated with each flower cluster, bracts reniform, apices acute to apiculate, margins ciliate, faces pubescent. 

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Leaves

Leaves opposite, simple, petioles to 5 cm long; blades ovate, lanceolate, or lance-ovate, 3-9 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, base cuneate to rounded; margins entire, crenate or serrate; pubescent especially along veins.

Plant and Stem Features

Perennial herb, slender rhizomes, forming patches or small clumps; stems 1-8 dm tall, erect to ascending, 4-angled, pubescence usually appressed to spreading. 

References

Correll, D.S. and M.C. Johnston. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas. Texas Research Foundation, Renner, TX.

Radford, Albert, E,. Harry E. Ahles,  & C. Ritchie Bell. 1968.  Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.  The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.

Species name

 Prunella vulgaris L.

Synonyms

 Prunella caroliniana P. Mill. 

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Wetland Indicator Status

 FAC-