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Viper's
Bugloss
Echium
vulgare
Other
Names:
Bluebottle, Blue Cat's Tail
Distribution:
Native biennial throughout
England
and
Wales.
Habitat:
Grassy areas with light dry soils.
Often seen on cliffs and dunes.
Likes sunny sites.
Description:
Upright (30cm to 1m)
biennial with stalks rising from numerous basal leaves.
The flowers (June to August) are pinkish in the bud, but open to
a deep blue.
Uses:
The plant was used as a cure and preventative for snake bite in
earlier times. The stem of
the plant is speckled and the dead flower-head resembles a snake's head.
Herbalists used an infusion of the seeds to drive away sadness and
melancholia. It was also
said to promote milk flow in nursing mothers and to be effective against
lumbago.
Wildlife:
The flowers attract bees and Painted Lady Butterflies.
Sowing Instructions for
Seeds: Sow seed in late spring to early summer in a cold frame.
When the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out into
individual pots and plant them out in late summer for flowering the
following year (biennial).
Our
plants and seeds are of native British origin.
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