(Isatis) wrote:

It was growing wild in the grounds of a ruined Abbey, and there is a picture
of it here.
http://www.ttforumfriends.com/images/forum/f1.jpg

It is probably a Prunella (called self-heal), probably Prunella vulgaris:

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/B8C.HTM#SELF-HEAL

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) also known as hook heal, all heal and
woundwort, is a low perennial herb of the family Labiatae native to
Britain and Europe where it grows in grasslands, woodland clearings,
hedgerows and on waste ground. It has a creeping rhizome which bears
erect or ascending, square, red-tinged stems, branched below. The leaves
are opposite, stalked, ovate and entire or serrate. The flowers are
purplish in colour , two-lipped and arranged in dense, terminal,
rectangular, spike-like panicles. The corolla has a hooded upper lip .
The fruit consists of four smooth brown nutlets, each with a ridge
running from the apex to the base. The flowering stems are used
medicinally as an anti-inflammatory and haemostatic.

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