SELF-HEAL, the PRUNELLA VULGARIS of Linnaeus. The stem is erect, and about eight or ten inches high. The leaves grow on foot-stalks, are ovato-oblong, slightly indented, and somewhat hairy. The bracts are heart-shaped, opposite, and fringed. The flowers are white or purplish, grow in dense spikes, and are terminal. This plant is perennial, grows wild in meadows and pasture grounds, and flowers in June and July.
This herb is recommended as a mild restorative and vulnerary in spittings of blood, and other hemorrhages and fluxes; and in gargarisms against aphthæ and inflammations of the fauces. Its virtues do not appear to be very great; to the taste it discovers a very slight austerity or bitterness, which is more sensible in the flowery tops than in the leaves, though the latter are generally directed for medicinal use.