PURPLE ORCHIS 77 



Self-heal is also called All-heal, Brown-wort, Brunei, Bumble-bees, 

 Herb Carpenter, Proud Carpenter, Carpenter-grass, Carpenter's herb, 

 Fly Flowers, Heart of the Earth, Hook-heal, London Bottles, Pick 

 Pocket, Pimpernel, Prince's Feather. 



Brunei is a modification of Brzmella, from the German die Braune, 

 which Gerarde describes as "an infirmitie among' soldiers that lie in 

 campe ". 



Self-heal is called " Heart of the Earth " because it chiefly grows 

 on thin, poor soils, where the farmers give it the credit of eating 

 away all the substance of the soil. Because the corolla is shaped 

 something like a billhook it was supposed to be (by Doctrine of 

 Signatures) a vulnerary. 



It was formerly applied in cases of quinsy. Formerly it was used 

 in gargles, being aromatic and astringent. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



255. Prunella vnlgaris, L.- Stem erect, leaves ovate, entire, 

 stalked, with 2 acute bracts at the base of the flowers, flowers 

 purple, in whorls of 6, in a terminal spike, calyx flattened, dentate. 



Purple Orchis (Orchis mascula, L.) 



Like other Orchids this is known only from its modern distribution, 

 which is the North Temperate Zone in Europe, N. Africa, and \V. 

 Siberia. 



It is found in every county in Great Britain, except Glamorgan, 

 S. Lines, Isle of Man, Peebles, E. Sutherland, as far north as the 

 Shetlands. It grows up to a height of 1500 ft. in the Lake District, 

 and in Ireland and the Channel Islands. 



This fine tall Orchid is a regular woodland species growing in 

 clumps beneath the trees in the deepest shade in woods, copses, and 

 plantations, and is strictly a shade lover like Dog's Mercury and Lords 

 and Ladies, which grow side by side with it. It may also be found in 

 pastures, but less commonly. The usual meadow Orchid taken for 

 small forms of the Purple Orchid is the Green-winged Orchid (O. 

 Morio], Its occurrence in meadows indicates former woodland. 



From a tuberous base the stem rises erect, tall and graceful. The 

 leaves are broad, spotted, oblong, narrowly elliptical, blunt. The stem 

 is naked above and purple. The central vein in the leaves projects 

 sharply below. The bracts are as long as the ovary, purple, narrowly 

 elliptical, membranous, with twisted tips, nerved. 



The flowers are deep-purple, large, in a loose spike. The lip has 



