Self-heal - introduced (*Prunella vulgaris)

Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family).

Occurrence: Self-heal is a weed of damp places e.g. well-watered lawns and beside streams. In wetter climates it is more widely distributed.

Identification:

• Self-heal has short square-sectioned stems
• the flowers are small and purple in colour (or occasionally much paler), and are in dense cylindrical clusters at the end of the stems
• the leaves are shortly stalked and in pairs.

Self-heal is sometimes thought to be native to Australia as well as to the northern hemisphere. Even if this is so, in the Central Goldfields Self-heal grows in weedy or greatly modified vegetation, and is unlikely to be native to the area. Self-heal has been used as a medicinal plant in Europe and Asia.

Photos all: Self Heal. The leaves are in pairs, and the usually purple flowers are in a dense cylindrical cluster.

1, 2: From a Hargraves St. Castlemaine roadside drain. 3: From Kangaroo Creek. 4: Castlemaine Botanic Gardens, east side.