THE "SELF-HEAL: 



23 l 



coloured cones imaginable at the extremity of the stem and 

 branches. To this plant, the self-heal, we shall return imme- 

 diately. Perhaps you have passed it by somewhat indif- 

 ferently, for we pay little heed to common things, and on the 

 threshold of woods, and in their winding avenues, the self-heal 

 is very common. The celebrated German botanist, Bock (or 

 Tragus) bestowed upon it, two centuries before the epoch of 

 Linnaeus, the name of Prunella vulgaris. The specific appel- 

 lation, vulgaris, is here employed very appropriately, but we 

 should commit a grave error if we supposed every species 

 qualified as vulgaris to be " common." For example, the 

 Lysimachia vulgaris, a species of Primulaceae, is far from being 

 found everywhere. 



Pray, take the trouble to pick one lowly specimen ; being 

 specially careful to take up the whole plant, 

 stem, root, and branch. Lying along the 

 ground, it seems larger than it really is. Its 

 root is a creeper ; at the level of the insection 

 of the leaves some small shoots project, the 

 fibrous radicles which compel the lower part 

 of the stem to crawl like the bugle, Ajuga 

 reptans. 



Does the prunella belong to the family of 

 Labiatae, like the bugle ? 



See for yourself. The stem is quadrangular ; the branches 

 and leaves composed of two lips. The stamens are four in 

 number, two of which are longer than the others ; finally, by 

 means of a lens, you can easily distinguish, at the very bottom 



FIG. 49. The 

 Prunella. 



