Green alkanet has clear blue flowers

Identifying alkanet

Pentaglottis sempervirens is also known as evergreen bugloss, or simply alkanet. This flower has clear royal blue flowers, each about 1cm across, held on bristly stems – the unusual colour makes it one of my favourites. It is common around here, and I often see it growing alongside cow parsley. It grows to about 60cm tall, so is slightly shaded by the cow parsley but doesn’t seem to suffer from this. I have seen it in flower around here from February in sunnier spots.

In my opinion it is the only tallish wild plant with large clusters of royal blue flowers. The only similar ones I know have either tiny flowers (Bugloss, which is also shorter), flower spikes rather than clusters (Vipers bugloss), or tiny plus not vivid blue (Forget-me-not, which is also shorter).

I can’t resist taking a picture of alkanet wherever I see it

 

You can see from the pics below that the plant seems to be happy alongside nettles and garlic mustard, brambles and cleavers. I often see it in the base of hedgerows.

 

 

Blog posts mentioning Green alkanet – Pentaglottis sempervirens are tagged Alkanet

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