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Species of the Week
Number 45 --
June 25, 2007
In the Species of the Week feature of the Wildwood Web we took a close look
at one of the species that lives in Wildwood. To see the earlier featured species check the Species
of the Week archives.
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Viper's Bugloss
Echium vulgare
Viper's Bugloss is a beautiful plant. The
flowers are deep blue, a true blue, which is rare among flowers.
The flowerbuds, however are pink, a lovely contrast. The stem
and leaves are bristly hairy. The flowers, if you look at them
carefully, will be seen to have five petals, fused at the base into
a tube. The flower, however, is not regular, with some of the
petals being longer than the others. The stamens, or male
sexual parts, are long and protrude well out of the flowers.
From a distance the plant will be seen as a brilliant splash of
blue.
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| For all its beauty, the plant is considered a
noxious alien weed by many. Recall from last week's Species of
the Week (Poison Hemlock)
that, to a botanist, a weedy plant is a plant that can thrive in disturbed areas,
and an alien weed is such a plant that has been transported
by humans to a location it does not naturally occur in.
Like poison hemlock, and also like
coltsfoot, which we looked
at early this year, viper's bugloss is a weedy plant that
came to America from Europe. It evolved in
southern Europe and crossed the Atlantic with the early settlers.
It is a bit more picky than most weeds in its habits, preferring
limestone regions. In the Appalachian mountains, besides being
a common weed of waste places, it is a serious weed of
agricultural fields and pastures. Livestock won't eat it and it
takes the place of more edible forage for them. Farmers find
it noxious to remove for the bristly stems are irritating to the
skin.
Historical accounts indicate that it was already a serious weed in
this area by the earliest years of the 1800's. Over the years
it has acquired. many other common names which reflect both the
beauty of its flowers and its undesirable weediness: blueweed,
bluethistle, and bluedevil.
Besides its beauty, it has one other redeeming feature; bees
love it and it is an excellent source of honey. Viper's bugloss is in the
Boraginaceae, the Borage Family. Borage is an herb which also has
beautiful blue flowers and somewhat bristly, scratchy leaves
and stems. Borage is sometimes grown for its leaves
which make a refreshing ice-tea which, in my view, tastes
like cucumbers.
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The genus name Echium
is believed to come from the Greek echis which means "viper."
Supposedly the fruits, which are little nutlets, resemble the head of a
viper. Another theory, however, is that the name comes from echion,
the Greek name for some unknown plant. The species name vulgare
comes from the Latin for common and does not have the pejorative meaning
that "vulgar" has today. The common name viper's bugloss presumably
refers to the viper theory for the genus etymology, but what, you may
wonder, is a bugloss? It comes from the Greek bous and
glossa and means "cow's tongue." Several species of plants in the
Borage family with big hairy leaves are called bugloss, presumably their
leaves resemble a cow's tongue.
Unfortunately, much of Wildwood is disturbed habitat, but
especially the entrance area. Viper's bugloss occurs regularly in this
area. Occasionally it grows on top of the weeping tufa at the
entrance, across from the
bank, and there is a healthy population there this year. Look for its brilliant blue flowers as you come into the park,
and in fields and waste places throughout our region.
GGC |
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