Wildflower (forb) · Lamiaceae
Common selfheal
Prunella vulgaris · includes its varieties and subspecies
Common selfheal is recorded as native to 49 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,757 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common selfheal at a glance
- Native in
- 1,757 counties, across 49 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 1.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common selfheal is recorded as native to 49 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,757 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,757 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 14 counties
- Alaska 10 counties
- Arizona 5 counties
- Arkansas 64 counties
- California 38 counties
- Colorado 23 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 9 counties
- Georgia 28 counties
- Idaho 19 counties
- Illinois 102 counties
- Indiana 82 counties
- Iowa 8 counties
- Kansas 45 counties
- Kentucky 95 counties
- Louisiana 47 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 79 counties
- Minnesota 50 counties
- Mississippi 42 counties
- Missouri 101 counties
- Montana 22 counties
- Nebraska 22 counties
- Nevada 3 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New Mexico 13 counties
- New York 50 counties
- North Carolina 78 counties
- North Dakota 7 counties
- Ohio 86 counties
- Oklahoma 23 counties
- Oregon 31 counties
- Pennsylvania 67 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 32 counties
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 65 counties
- Texas 33 counties
- Utah 16 counties
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 100 counties
- Washington 33 counties
- West Virginia 53 counties
- Wisconsin 69 counties
- Wyoming 9 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 1.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Stoloniferous
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.4 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 115
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Green
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PRVU
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Prunella vulgaris (PLANTS symbol PRVU), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources