Echium vulgare

Last updated

Viper's bugloss
Echium vulgare L.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Boraginales
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Echium
Species:
E. vulgare
Binomial name
Echium vulgare
L.

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]

Contents

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]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004) ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p. 203.
  2. ↑ Flora Europaea: Echium vulgare
  3. 1 2 "Echium vulgare". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "Echium vulgare L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Garden, Kew. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "Guide to Poisonous Plants – College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences". csuvth.colostate.edu. Colorado State University. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Klemow, Kenneth M.; Clements, David R.; Threadgill, Paul F.; Cavers, Paul B. (1 January 2002). "The biology of Canadian weeds. 116. Echium vulgare L.". Canadian Journal of Plant Science. 82 (1): 235–248. doi:10.4141/P01-058.
  7. 1 2 "Echium vulgare - Plant Finder". www.missouribotanicalgarden.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  8. ↑ Coles, William (1657). Adam in Eden, or Nature's Paradise. The History of Plants, Herbs, Flowers, with their several, . . names, whether Greek, Latin, or English, and . . . vertues. London. p. 187.
  9. ↑ "Doctrine of Signatures". Science Museum. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Viper's Bugloss". Congleton Bath House & Physic Garden. 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  11. ↑ Graves, Melissa; Mangold, Jane; Jacobs, Jim. "Biology, Ecology and Management of Blueweed" (PDF). store.msuextension.org. Montana State University. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  12. ↑ "Echium vulgare - Viper's Bugloss". www.first-nature.com. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  13. ↑ Dorothy Hodges (1952). The pollen loads of the honeybee. Bee Research Association Ltd., London.
  14. ↑ "Description and images of Echium vulgare (Hierba azul, Viborera, Ortiguilla), a native Chilean plant, provided by the supplier of native exotic Chilean seeds, Chileflora.com". www.chileflora.com. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  15. ↑ "Echium vulgare". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
  16. ↑ "Common viper's bugloss: Echium vulgare (Lamiales: Boraginaceae): Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States". www.invasiveplantatlas.org. Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  17. ↑ Fitter, R. & A. (1974). The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins.
  18. ↑ "RHS Plantfinder - Echium vulgare 'Blue Bedder'" . Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  19. ↑ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 35. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.