Whole herb.
Interestingly, although the Prunella vulgaris is also nicknamed 'heal-all' or 'self-heal' denoting that the herb is a virtual panacea, researchers studying the plant are basically bewildered as the herb has always had a limited therapeutic use. According to many, the plant got its Latin name from the word 'brunella' a distortion of the German word braune which literally translated into English denoted 'a brown one'. In fact, besides its medicinal usage, the self-heal is an ideal example of the Doctrine of Signatures followed by medieval physicians. According to this theory, the plants healed the organs of the body they resembled. It may be mentioned here that John Gerard, a 16th century herbalist who was also the chief secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth I, praised the self-heal highly for its therapeutic properties. According to Gerard, there was no better medication for wounds than self-heal in the world and suggested that when the herb is combined with water and wine, it is highly effective in treating all kinds of wounds whether internal or external. Following the Doctrine of Signatures whereby the plant's flowers resembled the mouth, the herb was extensively used to treat sore throats and other infections of the mouth. In addition, the herb was prescribed for treating diarrhea and boils. Some recent researched conducted on self-heal is said to have shown signs of remedies prepared from the herb's extract to slow down the cell division in HIV. Chinese herbal medicine practitioners use self-heal to lower the blood pressure as well as an antibiotic. According to ancient French and German adages, 'He needs neither physician nor surgeon that hath self-heal and sanicle to help him.' For ages, self-heal has been extensively used as a wound herb for its properties to impede bleeding from the wounds as well as the ability to speed up the repairing process. While English herbalist John Gerard had lauded self-heal as the best medication to heal wounds in 1597, several years later, in 1735, Irish herbalist K'Eogh had observed that self-heal not only healed all internal and external wounds, but also helped in getting rid of all impediments of the liver and the gall bladder. Hence, K'Eogh recommended the use of self-heal to treat jaundice. The use of self-heal as a herbal medication has been greatly reduced over the years, but it still continues to be used widely as a would healer. As mentioned above, the herb is often taken as a gargle to treat sore throats and as infusion or tincture to cure internal wounds. The herb is generally applied externally to treat leucorrhea or white discharges from the vagina and also hemorrhoids or bleeding from anal veins. Many herbal medicine practitioners also recommend preparations with the herb as a tonic to stimulate various organs. Herbalists in China recommend taking self-heal on its own or combined with ju hua better known as the Chinese chrysanthemum to treat fevers, headaches, dizziness as well as vertigo. In addition, the herb is also used to soothe the swollen and sore eyes. The Chinese herbalists also use self-heal to calm the 'liver fire' that occurs owing to weakness of the liver. The herb is also recommended for use to treat all infected and enlarged glands, mainly the lymph nodes or organ filtering nodes of the neck. Following the finding of a few researches conducted on self-heal, herbal medical practitioners are now also prescribing the self-heal or heal-all to cure high blood pressure and related conditions.
Although self-heal is indigenous to Europe and Asia, presently it is found in all temperate climatic zones across the globe. Basically, self-heal is found in wastelands, pastures and along the roads. Self-heal grows and flourishes best in places receiving plenty of sunlight. The herb propagates both through self-seeding and its roots. Normally, the self-heal plant grows from the seeds during spring. The plant may also be propagated through root division. The aerial parts of the herb have therapeutic properties and are harvested during the middle of the summer, the season when self-heal bears flowers.
Researches conducted by Chinese scientists have found that the self-heal helps in reducing blood pressure by gently widening the blood vessels. At the same time, the Chinese researches have found that self-heal also possesses reasonably antibiotic properties and acts against a wide range of pathogens such as the Shigella species and E. coli. Strains or traces of Shigella and E. coli may often lead to enteritis and also urinary infections. Hence, the herb is effective in such cases too.
Self-heal contains flavonoids (inc. rutin), vitamins A, B, C, K, fatty acids, volatile oil, bitter principle.
Self-heal may be taken both as infusion and tincture. In addition, the herb may be used as an ointment and gargle. Infusion: To prepare an infusion with self-heal, add one or two teaspoonful of the dehydrated herb in one cup of boiling water and set it aside to infuse or permeate for approximately 10 minutes. For effective results, drink the infusion thrice every day. In addition, the infusion may also be used as a gargle to treat sore throats or applied externally as a lotion to cure open wounds and bruises. Tincture: One or two ml of self-heal tincture may be taken three times daily to treat various conditions.
The aerial parts of the self-heal herb possess remedial properties and has several applications. While the herb may be taken as an infusion, decoction as well as a tincture, it may also be used as poultice, lotions, eyewash, mouthwash or gargle.
Only the aerial parts of the self-help plant, including the leaves, tender stems and flowers, are therapeutically beneficial. The tender shoots and leaves of self-heal are harvested before the herb blossoms in June.
