Also known as 'Heal All' and 'Ceannbhán beag', this low-growing (to 20cm) little perennial of bare and grassy places is widespread throughout Ireland. Generally hairy with creeping stems and paired oval leaves, it bears its blue-violet flowers (10-15mm long) in short, dense, cylindrical whorls which have purplish bracts and calyx teeth. The individual little tubular flowers (12mm) have two-lobes, the upper concave, the lower flat and three-lobed. This is a plant beloved by bees and moths, is native to Ireland and belongs to the family Lamiacae.
I first identified this plant in 1973 at Cleggan, Co Galway and photographed it in 2005 in Gibletstown. Later in 2009 I came across the more rarely found white and pink blooms (pictured below) near Tullycanna, Co Wexford. They were growing alongside the violet variety.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
