Echium vulgare
Species of flowering plant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Echium vulgare, known as viper's bugloss and blueweed,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the borage family Boraginaceae. It is native to most of Europe and western and central Asia[2][3] and it occurs as an introduced species in north-eastern North America, south-western South America and the South and North Island of New Zealand.[1][4] If eaten, the plant is toxic to horses and cattle through the accumulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the liver.[5][6]
| Viper's bugloss | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Boraginaceae |
| Genus: | Echium |
| Species: | E. vulgare |
| Binomial name | |
| Echium vulgare | |
The plant root was used in ancient times as a treatment for snake or viper bites.[7][8] According to the Doctrine of signatures, plants were thought to have traits (in this case a speckled stem reminiscent of snake skin, and flowers like an open viper's mouth) that mirror the ailment they treat.[9][10]
Description
It is a biennial or monocarpic perennial plant growing to 30–80 cm (12–31 in) tall, with rough, hairy, oblanceolate leaves.[11] The stems, which are red-flecked, resemble snake's skin and even the fruits are shaped like adders' heads.[12] The flowers start pink and turn vivid blue, and are 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) in a branched spike, with all the stamens protruding. The pollen is blue[13] but the filaments of the stamens remain red, contrasting against the blue flowers. It flowers between May and September in the Northern Hemisphere. The Latin specific epithet vulgare means common.[7]
Distribution
It is native to Europe and temperate Asia. It has been introduced to Chile,[14] New Zealand[15] and North America, where it is naturalised in parts of the continent including Ontario and northern Michigan,[3] being listed as an invasive species in Washington.[16] It is found in dry, calcareous grassland and heaths, bare and waste places, along railways and roadsides and on coastal cliffs, sand dunes and shingle.[17]
Cultivation
E. vulgare is cultivated as an ornamental plant, and numerous cultivars have been developed. The cultivar 'Blue Bedder' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[18][19]
Gallery
Being pollinated by skipper butterflies
Illustration
Closeup of flower
Colonizing the banks of a Montreal city highway
Extensive occurrence near Waldems-Wüstems in the Taunus
