Alkanet

Anchusa officinalis

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
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Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Boraginales

Family:

Boraginaceae (Borage)

Also in this family:

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Alpine Forget-me-not, Blue-eyed Mary, Borage, Bugloss, Bulbous Comfrey, Bur Forget-me-not, Caucasian Comfrey, Changing Forget-me-not, Common Comfrey, Common Fiddleneck, Common Gromwell, Common Lungwort, Corn Gromwell, Creeping Comfrey, Creeping Forget-me-not, Crimean Comfrey, Early Forget-me-not, False Alkanet, Field Forget-me-not, Garden Anchusa, German Madwort, Green Alkanet, Green Houndstongue, Hidcote Blue Comfrey, Houndstongue, Mawson's Lungwort, Narrow-leaved Lungwort, Norfolk Comfrey, Oysterplant, Pale Forget-me-not, Purple Gromwell, Purple Viper's Bugloss, Red Lungwort, Rough Comfrey, Russian Comfrey, Scarce Fiddleneck, Siberian Bugloss, Slender Borage, Suffolk Lungwort, Tansy-leaved Phacelia, Tuberous Comfrey, Tufted Forget-me-not, Viper's Bugloss, Water Forget-me-not, White Comfrey, White Forget-me-not, Wood Forget-me-not, Yellow Alkanet

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

60 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Farmland, gardens, grassland, hedgerows, roadsides, sand dunes, wasteland.

Flower:

Purple, 5 petals

Tight clusters of purplish-blue flowers. Roundish petals. Densely hairy. 5 stamens. Pollinated by bees.

Fruit:

Brown, 4-parted fruit, about 4mm long. The seeds ripen from July to October.

Leaves:

The leaves and stems are very hairy. The leaves are elliptic and wavy-edged. Not toothed. The leaves are alternate along both sides of the stems. Biennial or perennial.

Other Names:

Common Bugloss, Oxtongue.

Frequency (UK):

Unusual

Similar Species:

False Alkanet

Green Alkanet

Garden Anchusa

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map