Scientific name: Echium vulgare L.
Common name: Viper's Bugloss
Description
Habit: An erect biennial, to 90 cm high.
Stems: With very stiff hairs.
Leaves: Broadly lanceolate, 12-15 cm long, densely hairy and white spotted; lower leaves stalked and tapered to the base.
Flowers: Corolla reddish purple first, turning to bright blue, zygomorphic, a broad, funnel-shaped tube with 5 spreading lobes; calyx of 5 sepals, divided almost to base into long narrow teeth; stamens unequal, 4-5, with long filaments, protruding from corolla; ovary superior, style solitary.
Fruits: Nutlets brown, rough, irregularly ridged and with a flat triangular base.
Habitat: Sand-dunes, gravel and shingle, cliffs, calcareous soils.
Distribution: Rather rare and local.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No