Where is the latest production area distribution of Prunella vulgaris?
Prunella vulgaris is also known as wheat-ear Prunella vulgaris, iron-wire Prunella vulgaris, etc. It is a perennial herb of the genus Prunella in the Lamiaceae family. Its dried fruit spikes can be used as medicine, and it has the effects of clearing the liver and purging fire, improving eyesight, dispersing nodules and reducing swelling. It mainly treats red, swollen and painful eyes, night pain of the eyeball, headache and dizziness, scrofula, goiter, acute mastitis, breast nodules, breast distension and pain, etc. Now let us take a look together at where Prunella vulgaris is produced!
Where is Prunella vulgaris produced?
The global distribution of Prunella vulgaris is mainly throughout Europe, and it is also widely distributed in North Africa, Siberia in the Soviet Union, West Asia, India, Pakistan, Nepal and other places, and is occasionally seen in Australia and North America. In China, it is mainly distributed in Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, China, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan and other provinces and regions.
The production environment of Prunella vulgaris
Prunella vulgaris grows in wet places in mountain gullies or in wet grass thickets, wastelands and roadsides on both sides of riverbanks. It prefers a warm and humid environment and can tolerate cold. It has strong adaptability, but sandy loam with sufficient sunlight and good drainage is best. It can also be planted on dry slopes, at the foot of mountains, in grassy areas at forest edges, roadsides and fields, but low-lying land prone to waterlogging is not suitable for cultivation. It rarely suffers from pests and diseases throughout its entire growth process.
Variety classification of Prunella vulgaris
1. Prunella grandiflora: Prunella grandiflora is a perennial herb of the genus Prunella in the Lamiaceae family. The plant height is about 15 cm, and the stem is square. The leaves are opposite and ovate. The verticillasters have 6 flowers and gather into dense terminal cylindrical spike inflorescences. The corolla is more than 2.5 cm long, the corolla tube is white, and the two lips are deep violet. There are varieties such as white flowers, red flowers, carmine, rose red and fernleaf. It is native to Europe and extends through the Balkan Peninsula and West Asia to central Asia.
2. Prunella hispida: Prunella hispida is a perennial herb of the genus Prunella in the Lamiaceae family. The rhizome is creeping, and the stem is upright and ascending. The leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, the apex is acute, the base is rounded, and the margin has shallow wavy to round-toothed serrations. Both surfaces are densely covered with articulated bristles. The verticillasters usually have 6 flowers, and most are densely arranged into terminal spike inflorescences 2-3 cm long and 2 cm wide. The calyx is purple. The nutlets are ovoid. The flowering and fruiting period is from June to January of the following year. It is produced in Yunnan and southwestern Sichuan, and also in India and Sikkim.
3. Prunella angustifolia: Prunella angustifolia is a perennial herb of the genus Prunella in the Lamiaceae family. The rhizome is creeping, and fibrous roots grow at the nodes. The stem is creeping and ascending. The stem leaves are papery, ovate-oblong or ovate. The apex is obtuse, the base is rounded, truncate to broadly cuneate, decurrent into narrow wings, and the margin has inconspicuous wavy shallow teeth or is nearly entire. The upper surface has short bristles or is nearly hairless. The dense spike inflorescences are 2-4 cm long. The calyx is campanulate, and the corolla is purple, blue-purple or red-purple. The nutlets are yellow-brown, oblong-ovoid.
4. Prunella alba: Prunella alba is a perennial herb of the genus Dracocephalum in the Lamiaceae family, 10-25 cm tall, with numerous stems. The lower stem leaves are broadly ovate to long ovate. The middle stem leaves have petioles equal to or shorter than the leaf blade. The upper stem leaves become smaller. The verticillasters grow in the leaf axils of the upper stem. The bracts are obovate or oblanceolate. The calyx is distinctly two-lipped, and the labiate corolla is pale yellow or white. The nutlets are oblong. It is distributed in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and other places in China.
5. Mountain spinach: Mountain spinach is a perennial herb of the genus Dracocephalum in the Lamiaceae family. The rhizome is creeping, and the stems are numerous. The stem leaves are ovate or ovate-oblong, and the petioles are conspicuous. The verticillasters have 6 flowers and gather at the branch tips to form spike inflorescences 3-5 cm long. Each verticillaster is subtended by bracts below. The tip of the calyx is red or purple, and the corolla is pale purple or dark purple. The nutlets are ovoid, brown and hairless. The flowering period is May-July, and the fruiting period is August-September.