Prunella Vulgarus- Plant of the month January

Prunella Vulgarus- such a pretty plant and a powerful ally! This is one of those herbs that if you ask a lot of old time herbalists to explain the benefits, you will get a lot of uses for it.

My favorite story about Self Heal is when I stopped at a ranger station on the Olympic Penninsula in Washington State. On my way in the door I noticed the self heal growing next to the walkway. I went in to check with the ranger about a particular trail and the poor lady was trying to carry on while tending to a terrible chest cold. She said she had two more days of work but then she could go to the doctor when her replacement ranger came in. I didn’t have any cough it up on me, but I asked if she had been taking the prunella. She asked what that was. I brought her out to see the plant and she exclaimed “Self Heal!”. She hadn’t heard of the uses, just the old fashioned name… I told her to make some tea with it and I sincerely hope it helped.