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Biennial of the Boraginaceae family, Echium vulgare is widely spread in Europe and Western Asia, where it colonizes embankments, roadsides, dry grasslands, and sunny wastelands on poor calcareous or sandy substrates. The individuals photographed here correspond to a cultivated form, more compact and more flower-rich than the wild plants usually observed on roadsides.
In cultivation, the plant forms bushy and dense clumps of 40 to 70 cm, very branched from the base. The stems and leaves are covered with stiff and prickly hairs, a constant characteristic of the genus. The leaves are lanceolate, of a bright green.
The tubular to slightly flared flowers, borne in coiled scorpioid cymes, present a remarkable color palette: the buds are pink to reddish, then turn to intense blue-violet to sky blue at anthesis, with protruding pink stamens — a color transition observable simultaneously on the same stem. Cultivated forms can also produce white flowers.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from May to September. It is an exceptionally honey-producing plant, continuously visited by bees and bumblebees throughout the summer.
It sows easily, reseeds itself spontaneously, and is content with ordinary to poor, well-drained soil, in full sun. Its hardiness and floral generosity make it a natural choice for prairie gardens or compositions with a wild character.