Flowering viper's bugloss plant, Echium vulgare. This plant's young leaves can be eaten in salads. The juice is used as a cosmetic to soften reddened

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Flowering viper's bugloss plant, Echium vulgare. This plant's young leaves can be eaten in salads. The juice is used as a cosmetic to soften reddened and delicate skin. The flowering tops can be chopped to make poultices to treat whitlows and boils. The root can be used to make a red dye. Viper's bugloss is a perennial plant which grows in uncultivated fields and road verges in low-lying areas of Britain and Europe. It flowers from May to September, and is gathered for use in July. The plant's common name comes from the resemblance of its fruit to the head of the viper snake. Photographed in June, in Kent, UK.

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Size: 3840px × 5760px
Photo credit: © MARTYN F. CHILLMAID/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: biological, biology, blueweed, boils, borage, botanical, botany, bugloss, cosmetic, dye, echium, europe, european, fields, flora, flowers, herb, juice, june, kingdom, leaves, medical, medicinal, medicine, nature, perennial, plant, poultices, road, salads, treatment, uk, uncultivated, united, verges, vipers, vulgare, whitlows