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Common viper's bugloss (Echium rauwolfii)

Description

It is a biennial or monocarpic perennial plant growing to 30-80 cm (12-31 in) tall, with rough, hairy, oblanceolate leaves. 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 but the filaments of the stamens remain red, contrasting against the blue flowers. It flowers between May and September. 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.

Taxonomic tree

  • Domain: Eukarya

    • Kingdom: Plantae

      • Phylum: Magnoliophyta

        • Class: Magnoliopsida

          • Order: Boraginales

            • Family: Boraginaceae

              • Genus: Echium