Echium plantagineum

Echium plantagineum
In Portugal
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	(unplaced)
Family:	Boraginaceae
Genus:	Echium
Species:	E. plantagineum
Binomial name
Echium plantagineum L.

Echium plantagineum, commonly known as purple viper's-bugloss or Paterson's curse, is a species of Echium native to western and southern Europe (from southern England south to Iberia and east to the Crimea), northern Africa, and southwestern Asia (east to Georgia). It has also been introduced to Australia, South Africa and United States, where it is an invasive weed. Due to a high concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, it is poisonous to grazing livestock, especially those with simple digestive systems, like horses. The toxins accumulate in the liver, and death results from too much Paterson's curse in the diet.

Echium plantagineum is a winter annual plant growing to 20–60 cm tall, with rough, hairy, lanceolate leaves up to 14 cm long. The flowers are purple, 15–20 mm long, with all the stamens protruding, and borne on a branched spike.

Echnium plantagineum has become an invasive species in Australia, where it is also known as Salvation Jane (particularly in South Australia), blueweed, Lady Campbell weed, and Riverina bluebell.

In the United States the species has become naturalised in parts of California, Oregon, and some eastern states and areas such as northern Michigan. In Oregon it has been declared a noxious weed.

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Wikipedia