206 FLOWERS OF WASTE PLACES, ETC. 



Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare, L.) 



This plant is found in the Temperate Northern Zone in Europe, 

 N. Africa, and W. Siberia, and has been introduced in N. America. 

 There is no trace of it in any early deposits. In Great Britain it is 

 not found in Hunts, Cardigan, I. of Man, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, 

 Westerness, Main Argyle, Dumbarton, Cantire, N. Ebudes (or only 

 in Clyde Islands, and Mid Ebudes in W. Highlands), Sutherland, 

 Orkneys, Shetlands, but elsewhere generally. It is an alien or colonist 

 in Scotland. 



Viper's Bugloss is essentially a plant of cultivated ground or of 

 waste ground. It occurs, though rarely, in woods, where it is only an 

 escape from these habitats. It is associated with Mayweed, Worm- 

 wood, Chicory, Mullein, Yellow and Creeping Toad Flax, and many 

 other casuals and aliens. 



It is an erect plant with a very softly-hairy, wart-covered stem, 

 armed with prickly bristles, with narrow, lance-shaped, stiffly-hairy 

 stem -leaves, which are stalkless, narrow below, with a single rib. 



The name Bugloss, from two Greek words, is given in reference 

 to the roughness of the stem and leaves, like an ox's tongue. The 

 flowers are like Lungwort, pink at first, then blue, and so variegated. 

 They are borne on four or more lateral, scorpioid cymes, and all turned 

 one way. The calyx is longer than the tube of the corolla, as are 

 also the projecting stamens. The cymes are bent back. The nutlets 

 are angular and rough. 



The plant is 2 ft. high. It flowers in July and August. Viper's 

 Bugloss is a herbaceous biennial plant increased from seeds. 



The flowers are conspicuous. Honey is accessible to many different 

 insects. The flower is funnel-shaped, tubular, and is narrower below, 

 inclined obliquely upwards, which guides the visiting insects. There are 

 5 stamens, the lower part adhering to the corolla, one remaining in 

 the tube dividing it into two, while 4 are projecting and form a landing- 

 stage for insects, which dust their abdomen with the pollen, the flowers 

 being proterandrous, turning their pollen-covered side upwards. The 

 stigma is small at first, less than the tube, but becomes longer than the 

 anthers, projecting 10 mm. beyond the tube, being divided into two 

 short branches at the end. The honey is secreted by the fleshy base 

 of the ovary. The mouth of the corolla, where the anthers lie free, is 

 large enough for bees to insert their heads, and for small bumble bees 

 to insert more than half their bodies, some entering bodily. 



