Echium

ECHIUM (ek’-i-um) -A genus of rough-hairy or bristly, annual, perennial and biennial herbs belonging to the Borage Family and known as Vipers Bugloss. They have purple, rose or white flowers in coiled racemes or showy spikes. Some of the species from the Canary Isles are much planted in California. All thrive and flower well in poor soil in open, sunny situations; they produce only a profusion of leaves if planted in too rich ground. The annual and biennial species are increased by seed, and the perennial sorts by seed, layering, or cuttings.

Echium vulgaris (Blueweed), a biennial to 2 1/2 ft., is an Old-World plant with panicles of blue flowers following rose-pink buds. In the eastern U. S. it has escaped and become a troublesome weed in open fields.

Echium candicans, a shrub to 6 ft., has white-hairy foliage and white or blue and white flowers in profuse spikes.

Echium bourgaeanum, a shrub to 11 ft., has very narrow leaves and rose-colored flowers.

Echium fastuosum, a shrub to 6 ft., has purple or dark blue flowers in dense spikes,

Echium wildpreti, a biennial to 3 ft., has white-hairy foliage and rose-colored flowers in large flat-topped clusters.

Echium giganteum, a shrub to 10 ft., has white-hairy leaves and white flowers.

Echium plantagineum has been extensively hybridized, with larger red as well as blue and purple flowers developed.

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