Home Index Web Stuff Copyright Links Me

Prunella vulgaris



11th October 2007 6th July 2010
A common and weedy native plant that has slowly spread out from the hedges and colonised the rough grass and borders, where it is generally welcome. From time to time I mow it and it which makes no appreciable difference. There are a number of cultivated selections available and I am aware that at any moment I may be swept away with an overwhelming desire to grow them all, but for the moment this is a simple pleasure of summer.

Chiltern Seeds had an interesting note in their (excellent) catalogue:

"One interesting point about this name is that, according to the rules of botanical nomenclature, it is an example of an error, once made, becoming enshrined in history: the name should in fact have been Brunella, after the German for quinsy, a disease the plants were said to cure. However, Linnaeus, in his formal description of the genus, boobed and spelled the word with a "P" and thus, for ever and a day, Prunella became the one and only correct spelling."

In the 'Problem Profiles' Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1996, I gathered the fascinating snippet:

"Seeds can pass unharmed through the gut of birds - a likely source of lawn infestations."

Herbalists and re-wilders heap bounteous praise on the plant, however it recieves a mixed reception from gardeners.



6th July 2010



References:

  • Chiltern Seeds, https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_1055g_prunella_vulgaris_seeds (accessed 27.12.2023).
  • Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 'Problem Profiles', Vol.121 part.9 p.589 (1996).