• Scientific Name: Prunella vulgaris Linnaeus
• Ref: Sp. Pl. 2: 600. 1753.
• English Common Name: common self-heal, heal-all, heart-of-the-earth
• Chinese Common Name: 夏枯草 xiàkūcǎo
• Family: Lamiaceae
• Genus: Prunella
• Distribution: Open slopes, grasslands, wet streamsides, forest margins, thickets; 0-3200 m. Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Africa, SW Asia, Europe, North America]

Stems 20-30 cm, ascending, base much branched, purple-red, sparsely strigose or subglabrous. Petiole 0.7-2.5 cm, upper ones shorter; leaf blade lanceolate to ovate, 1.5-6 × 0.6-2.5 cm, glabrous to sparsely villous, base truncate to broadly cuneate-decurrent, margin undulate to entire, apex obtuse to rounded. Spikes 2-4 cm, sessile; floral leaves similar to cauline leaves, sessile or short petiolate, subovate; bracts purplish, broadly cordate, ca. 7 × 11 mm, cuspidate, veins sparsely hispid. Calyx campanulate, ca. 1 cm, sparsely hispid, tube ca. 4 mm; upper lip suboblate, subtruncate; lower lip narrower, teeth acuminate. Corolla purplish or white, ca. 1.3 cm, slightly exserted, glabrous; tube ca. 7 mm, base ca. 1.5 mm wide, gradually dilated to ca. 4 mm wide at throat; upper lip subcircular, ca. 5.5 mm in diam., ± galeate, emarginate; lower lip ca. 1/2 as long as upper lip, middle lobe subobcordate, fringed; lateral lobes oblong, spreading, minute. Anterior stamens very long. Nutlets oblong-ovoid, ca. 1.8 × 0.9 mm, slightly 1-furrowed. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jul-Oct. (Flora of China)