Hey, I was just hoping to confirm (or correct) my identification of this plant today... http://youtu.be/nYrsyy1ErMI As always, much appreciation in advance!
I concur with the other members, definitely Echium vulgare. If you would care for some trivial information: In Italian the common name for this plant is Viperina azzurra meaning "Little blue viper" the other common name is Erba Viperina meaning " Little Viper's herb" The reason for this name is the fact that the flower is very similar to a viper's head. The chromatic differences found in these plants is due to the amount of acidity. as is the case with Pulmonaria sp. The bristly hairs are able to condensate the water, and also serves as a mechanical defense against herbivores. The plant contains (Pirrolizidina) alkaloids which are noxious for the kidneys and liver, and are also cancerogenous. Forgive the trivia, best wishes duffy
I hadn't heard about pulmonarias and acidity, are they like Hydrangea macrophylla -- the more acidic, the more blue?
No, the flower colour of Pulmonaria does not change with soil pH. Buds and flowers start out pink, then become blue as the inflorescence develops. Here is an apparent explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonaria_officinalis
Hello altagardener, The acidity referred to was taken from the publication " Che Fiore è Questo" meaning what flower is it. The section dealing with Echium vulgare mentioned that the change in colour is related to acidity. It did not however mention the change from acidity to alkalinity in the petals. The reference to the pulmonaria did not specify species. This book is published by Franco Muzzio Editore which is the Italian translation of the German publication written by Spohn, Aichele, Golte-Bechtle, Spohn. I find it extremely helpful and has fine coloured illustrations. Best wishes, towler
Ah, I see now that I parsed the punctuation incorrectly, Duffy's reference to pulmonaria wasn't with respect to acidity, but the hairy leaves. cheers, Larry
Duffy does seem to be referring to the flowers of Echium vulgare being similar to those of Pulmonaria, in that the buds and flowers often start pink then turn blue. (Note that both plants do have hairy leaves, as well.) The colour change is said to be related to a pH change (that is, from acidity to alkalinity, or vice versa; see linked reference) in the petals of the plant as the flowers develop. The phenomenon you note with Hydrangea is due to the effect of growing the plant in soils of different pH. As the pink-to-blue flower change occurs in Echium vulgare and in Pulmonaria without changing the soil conditions, it would seem to be internally-caused.
