Leaves opposite, stalked, egg-shaped or oblong, pointed or blunt- 
ish, crenate (notched) or wavy, paler beneath, with prominent 
hairy ribs. Flowers numerous, deep purplish blue, sometimes red, 
or white, in dense, solitary, upright, cylindrical, whorl ed spikes, 
about an inch long, and blunt, appearing as if cut off at the top ; 
each whorl is composed of 6 flowers, and is subtended by a pair 
of broad, blunt, ribbed, partly coloured, bracteas, ( floral-leaves J . 
Calyx (fig. 1.) a little longer than the bracteas, hairy, especially 
towards the base, summit purplish, upper lip dilated, having 3 short 
teeth, and 7 ribs ; lower lip bifid (2-cleft) and sharp pointed 
(mucronate) ; all the segments bordered with short stiff hairs. 
Corolla (fig. 2.) ringent, the tubular part a little longer than the 
calyx, the upper lip hollow, entire, and a little hairy above, the 
lower lip divided into 3 segments, of which the side ones are en- 
tire, the middle one finely toothed. Filaments (fig. 3.) forked at 
the extremity, the innermost fork bearing the anther. Anthers 
of 2 diverging lobes. Seeds (fig. 6 & 7.) smooth, brown, and 
terminated by a white point. The corolla very soon falls, when 
the lips of the calyx close together, and secure the seeds. The 
white flowered variety is not very uncommon ; it has been observed 
in the neighbourhood of Oxford ; the Rev. J. Dodd found it on 
Aspatria Moss, in Cumberland ; Mr. W. Pamplin, jun. about 
Battersea, in Surrey ; and the Rev. G. E. Smith has recorded it as 
growing by the pond-side at the Cherry-Garden, near Folkstone, 
Kent. A bright red flowered variety was found by Mr. W. Pamp- 
lin, jun. near Battersea. Sir J. E. Smith mentions a dwarf va- 
riety, Brunella minor, of Haller, which has quite entire leaves, 
but I do not know that it has ever been found wild in England. 
Prunella vulgaris varies much in size ; Linnaeus remarks, that 
“ in open exposed situations it is short and trailing ; but when 
drawn up among high grass, and especially in woods, it is upright 
and a foot high. In the latter case it has a flexuose stem, branches 
little, and has very long internodes” (spaces between the joints). 
Cows, goats, and sheep, are said to eat it ; horses and swine to re- 
fuse it. 
Being astringent, it was formerly used in fluxes, and in gargarisms 
for a sore throat, and ulcers of the mouth. It was also considered 
one of the best herbs to cure fresh wounds, but it is now out of use. 
Besides the English names given to it above, it is sometimes called 
Pruned, Carpenter's Herb, Sickle-wort, and Hook-heal. 
Mr. J. Haines, of the Radcliffe Lil rary, Oxford, discovered a new 
and beautiful species of Asterdma on the stems and upper surface 
of the leaves of this plant, in Bagley Wood, near Oxford, on the 
10th of Feb. 1824. My much-lamented friend, the late T. Pur- 
ton, Esq. of Alcester, Warwickshire, an excellent Botanist, and 
author of the Midland Flora, so often referred to in this work, named 
it A. Prunella. It is by no means uncommon in Bagley Wood, 
principally on such plants of the Prunella as grow in moist places, 
or on the margins of rills, &c. I have found it on Shotover Hill in 
similar situations. See my Stirpes Crypt, Oxon. No. 79. 
