“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. “
- Ecclesiastes
I am no philosopher. I do not know if the cat is dead. I will leave that to finer minds than mine. I can, however, sometimes be graced to see eternity in a grain of sand and apprehend the connection of the microcosm to the macrocosm.
I went down to the woods today (no bears) to take some pictures of heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) in flower. I had been out for a walk earlier in the week and none of it was in flower. Today was 3 days later and I thought it would be flowering and I could get some shots for this post – which will eventually be about heal-all. I was walking, looking, looking, and looking; my eyes are practically falling on the earth as I try to spot some heal-all flowers. None. Whatever my plans they were moot in the face of the reality that the plants were not yet in flower. I was struck that we buy the coffee mug telling us to live in the moment, or pick up the daytimer with pithy quotes on each page to remind us to be here now, breathe, centre. Herbalism by its essential nature leads us to live in the moment. I only have the present. In this present there are no heal-all flowers. I cannot make a wild plant flower any sooner. The plants have to lead. We follow them through the growing season. Each year the season sings it’s own song. Sun, rain, drought, blight. The days lengthen and then begin to shorten again. Bud, blossom, and fruit. Time and attention are finite resources. The are only so many suitable harvesting days each year. If I miss one – well I may not get that herb that year. Sitting now at the keyboard I am not sure if my insight (if that is what it was) is being communicated very clearly. Let the plants lead.
Off topic I just have to say that my neighbours are whack. All I can hear through our open windows is the drone of their air conditioner. Meanwhile in their backyard they have the towering inferno of all bonfires going. Turn off one of these.
Heal-all is a member of the mint family. Has a weak and floopy square stem, opposite leaves. Heal-all is not native to North American but has become naturalized over here. There are about 15 species of Prunella, but Prunella vulgaris is the species most commonly worked with in herbalism and the species that the majority of the research has been done on. The plant can often be found threaded through the lawn. Heal-all packs it’s power into a tiny package. The plants rarely grow taller than a foot and to be honest in my experience to see one above 6-7 inches tall is pretty rare. All mint family plants have opposite leaves and these leaves are oval to somewhat lance shaped with a mostly smooth and even edge. The flowers are a vibrant purple on a short thick terminal spike. The shorter the spike the younger the plant. The plant is not aromatic – basically scentless. Other common names include woundwort, self-heal, carpenter’s herb, hook heal, bumble bees, pimpernel, heart of the earth, blue curls, sickle herb, slough heal, and my fav – touch and heal. There was a belief that all you had to do was touch the plant and you would be healed.
Heal-all, Prunella vulgaris
Fascinating to me is that heal-all is used both in Western herbalism and in TCM – only depending upon which system the plant is harvested at completely different times and used for different body systems. In TCM they want to wait until the flowers have dried back and harvest them when they are brown. I will be harvesting heal-all in the next week – as soon as it comes into flower. There are no doubt biochemical differences in the plant based upon when in the lifecycle you harvest it and these differences may be a part of why the herb is used differently.
One challenge with heal-all is that it is petite. As far as I know it is not being commercially cultivated and the plant is wee. If we figure we want to harvest the flowering spike and then the 2 pairs of leaves below the spike from each plant it might takes as many as 5-6 plants to harvest a gram in weight of herb material. 165 grams of herb material to make a single litre of tincture – well you do the math. It can be difficult to find it growing in sufficient quantities to harvest.
Heal-all has been called the best herb for wounds that no one is using. It is astringent, a true hemostatic (akin to shepherd’s purse), vulnerary, and broadly anti-microbial. A heal-all infused oil would make a great base for a salve or ointment. It is every bit the equal to calendula in it’s abilities to heal cuts, wounds, scrapes, and damage to the skin. Important to remember that a great vulnerary can also be really useful for conditions of the digestive membranes.
Heal-all is a potent anti-oxidant. It contains ~ 5% rosmarinic acid – higher than rosemary. Rosmarinic acid is a common constituent in mint family plants and is antioxidant, anti- inflammatory, and anti-allergenic. Of particular interest to me personally is the fact that heal-all also contains betulinic acid. This is one of the major constituents of chaga and one of the reasons (we think) that chaga is so potent. Now the problems of growing sufficient quantities of heal-all to use medicinally pale in comparison to the problems associated with using chaga so this peaks my interest. Heal-all also contains another acid called ursolic acid. This acid has been shown to have anti-tumour activity by promoting tumour cell apoptosis (cell death).
Heal-all is anti-viral (broadly anti-microbial), immune stimulant, and lymphatic. This makes it very useful for infectious conditions. As an anti-viral it acts similarly to elderflower in that is prevents viruses from replicating. I always hesitate to tout an an herb as being useful for cancer because cancer is many many different diseases and because in vivo, in vitro, and clinical trials are all very different. In a petri dish bleach kills cancer. Does not mean that I am going to start drinking bleach. That being said I looked at several different studies on heal-all. One was in vivo in rats and it showed that liver tumours were diminished in both number and size in rats who were given a heal-all preparation. This is a massive over-simplification and I do not want to go down the PubMed rabbit hole. BUT. I think there is something there there. Other research shows topical applications being of benefit for skin cancer.
Heal-all, Prunella vulgaris about to flower.
Following from the law of unintended consequences we have a big patch of heal-all in our lawn this year. Unintended because I have been unable to mow that patch since we lost a tree to a late April ice storm. I am alway up for challenges but learning to operate a chainsaw at this point in my life is not a challenge I am choosing to embrace. So the tree is still there, no mowing, and so a big easy to access patch of heal-all. My partner frequently butchers himself while shaving (slow down dude!) and the other morning he really gashed himself open. After tissue and pressure were not getting the job done I was like – herbs? He agreed and I popped outside to pick a few of the leaves and flowers from our lawn patch. Chewed them up (would have been better if he chewed them himself but I think that would have been a bridge too far). Slapped it on the wound and had him hold it there. Voila – bleeding stopped. It took less than a minute. Plants really are amazing in their ability to heal.
I have been pondering the anti-viral qualities of heal-all and I think I might make a salve, combined with elder flowers and lemon balm and see how that works for cold sores. All herbs are precious to me but with such a limited supply of fresh heal-all to make use of I want to really think about what would be the best thing to do with it. There are similar plants that are much easier to harvest.