[Sidenote: =Self-heal=
_Prunélla vulgàris_
=Purple
Spring, summer, autumn
Across the continent=]
There are several kinds of Prunella, widely distributed, but this is
the only one common in this country and is probably not native. It is
abundant in dampish places, in the far West often staying green all
winter, a perennial, sometimes hairy, from two inches to over a foot
high. The leaves, often obscurely toothed, have leaf-stalks and the
small flowers are crowded in a series of whorls, with purplish bracts
and forming a spike or head. The calyx is two-lipped, with five teeth
and often purplish, and the corolla is purple, pink, or occasionally
white, with an arched upper lip, a spreading, three-lobed lower lip,
and four stamens, under the upper lip of the corolla, the lower pair
longer. This is usually not pretty, but in favorable situations in the
West is often handsome, with brighter-colored, larger flowers. The
name, often spelled Brunella, is said to be derived from an old German
word for an affection of the throat, which this plant was supposed to
cure. There is a picture in Mr. Mathews' _Field Book_.
There are many kinds of Stachys, widely distributed; herbs, often
hairy, with a disagreeable smell; the calyx with five, nearly equal
teeth; the corolla with a narrow tube, the upper lip erect, the lower
lip spreading and three-lobed, the middle lobe longest; the stamens
four, in pairs, usually under the upper lip of the corolla.
[Sidenote: =Hedge Nettle=
_Stàchys ciliàta_
=Magenta
Spring, summer
Northwest=]
This is a handsome plant, with a stout, rough, hairy stem, over two
feet tall, and very bright green leaves, which are thin in texture
but velvety. The flowers are in whorls, making a large cluster, and
have a purplish calyx, smooth or with a few stiff hairs, and a corolla
about an inch long, deep pink or magenta, sometimes spotted with white
inside. Though the flowers are rather crude in color, they contrast
finely with the bright green foliage. _S. coccínea_ is a very handsome
kind, with a tubular scarlet corolla, and grows in the mountain canyons
of Arizona.
[Illustration: Hedge Nettle Stachys ciliata.]
[Sidenote: =Common Hedge Nettle=
_Stàchys bullàta_
=Pink, purple
Spring, summer
Wash., Oreg., Cal.=]
This is common and varies in appearance, being often a coarse-looking
weed, but sometimes the flowers are pretty. The rough, hairy stem is
about a foot tall, the wrinkled leaves are soft and more or less hairy,
and the flowers are about half an inch long, usually pale purplish-pink
or purple, streaked and specked with deeper color, but are sometimes
bright pink and then the long clusters are quite effective, growing in
the road-side hedges. The plant is aromatic when crushed.
There are many kinds of Scutellaria, widely distributed; bitter herbs,
some shrubby, with blue or lilac flowers; the calyx with two lips, the
upper one with a protuberance on its back; the corolla smooth inside,
the upper lip arched, sometimes notched, the lower lip more or less
three-lobed; the stamens four, under the lip, all with anthers, the
upper pair hairy. The curious helmet-shaped calyx, in which the seeds
are generally enclosed at maturity, suggests the common names, Skullcap
and Helmet-flower.
[Sidenote: =Skullcap=
_Scutellària angustifòlia_
=Blue
Spring, summer
Cal., Oreg., Wash.=]
A pleasing plant, from six inches to over a foot tall, not aromatic,
with almost smooth leaves, most of them toothless. The flowers are
pretty, though not striking, in pairs from the angles of the leaves,
with a purplish-blue corolla, nearly an inch long, with a white tube,
the lower lip woolly inside. The calyx is curiously shaped and after
the flower drops off resembles a tiny green bonnet. When these little
calyxes are pinched from the sides they open their mouths and show
the seeds inside. This is quite common throughout the Sierras. _S.
antirrhinoìdes_ is similar, growing in Utah and the Northwest. _S.
Califórnica_ has cream-white flowers, less than an inch long, the
lower lip hairy inside, and downy leaves, narrow at base, the lower
leaves purplish on the under side and more or less toothed, the upper
ones toothless. It grows in open woods in the Coast Ranges and Sierra
Nevada mountains. _S. tuberòsa_ is from three to five inches high,
with tuberous rootstocks; the leaves more or less oval, downy, thin in
texture, with a few teeth, the lower ones purplish on the under side,
with long leaf-stalks, the flowers dark blue, about three-quarters of
an inch long, each pair, instead of standing out at opposite sides of
the stem, generally turn sociably together, first to one side and then
to the other. This blooms in spring and grows in the Coast Ranges of
California and Oregon.
[Illustration: Common Hedge Nettle--Stachys bullata.