.jpg)
A perennial of the Lamiaceae family, the Common Selfheal is one of the most cosmopolitan plants of the northern hemisphere, found in Europe, Asia, North Africa, and naturalized on other continents. It colonizes meadows, mown lawns, roadsides, clearings, and gardens, from the plains up to over 2,000 meters in the mountains, on varied soils, preferably fresh to moderately moist.
It forms small creeping rosettes connected by stolons, with erect floral stems 10 to 20 cm tall. The leaves are oval, slightly crenellated, with a matte green color. The bilabiate flowers, purple-violet to lilac, are grouped in short, dense spikes, borne by characteristic reddish bracts. In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from May to September depending on the altitude.
Its reddish bracts contrasting with the purple corollas give it an immediately recognizable bicolored appearance. The plant is melliferous and very frequented by bumblebees. It has been used in traditional phytotherapy, notably for its healing properties, which earned it the popular English name of selfheal.
In open ground, it spreads vigorously by stolons and can become invasive in lawns.