[131] Eratigena atrica, Giant House Spider

[131] Eratigena atrica, Giant Hose Spider

Introduction

Eratigena atrica, the Giant House Spider, is aptly named. It’s a spider, it’s big and it’s often found in houses.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Subphylum – Chelicerates

Class – Arachnida

Order – Araneae (Spiders)

Suborder – Opisthothelae

Infraorder – Araneomorphae (Most spiders, excluding tarantulas)

Family – Agelinidae (Funnel Weavers)

Genus – Eratigena

Scientific Name – Eratigena atrica

This spider used to be in the genus Tegenaria but it was moved in 2005 to a new genus Eratigena. At the same time three species were moved together.

Since April 2020 the World Spider Catalogue has split the species again into three – Eratigena atrica, Eratigena duellica and Eratigena saeva.

Name

I can’t trace Tegenaria or atrica, but when the new genus took many species out its name was created as an anagram, Eratigena.

Description

Male and female have similarly marked mottled brown bodies. The female has a slightly larger body, near two centimetres in length but the male may have longer legs.

Their webs are messy (not like the neat [030] Garden Spider), without sticky threads in the corners of floors or ceilings or in other places away from humans.

They live for two or three years. Those that come out in the open in houses are usually males in search of females in late summer or early autumn.

Habitat

Eratigena atrica is found over most of Europe. Originally, its habitat was in caves or under stones in dark forests but it is now common in houses.

See also

We have one more spider coming in September.

[130] Equus ferus, Horse

[139] Equus ferus caballus, Horse

Introduction

Equus ferus caballus, the domestic horse is well-known and comes in various forms including Shetland Ponies, Shire Horses and racehorses.

It is a domesticated subspecies and most horses we think of as wild are actually feral populations following escape or release. Two truly wild subspecies continued until recently.

• The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus died out when the last zoo specimen died in 1908.
• Przewalski’s Horse, Equus ferus przewalskii, was extinct in the wild but a small wild population is being established in Mongolia from surviving zoo animals.

The word pony is used for a horse below a certain height.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Mammals

Order – Perissodactyla (Odd-toed ungulates – includes Rhinoceros and Tapirs)

Family – Equidae (Only one surviving genus)

Genus – Equus (includes Donkey (Ass) and Zebra)

Species – Equus ferus

Subspecies Scientific Name – Equus ferus caballus

Name

Equus and caballus are both Latin for a horse and ferus means wild.

Description

Horses have only one weight-bearing toe in each foot. They are odd-toed (Perissodactyla) unlike cloven-hoofed animals (Artiodactyla) such as [054] Cattle and [077] Deer. The real difference between these groups is that horses digest grass in their intestines, whereas cattle use a number of stomachs.

Anatomically each foot of a horse is just the tip of one toe. The hoof is equivalent to a toenail.

We won’t meet any other odd-toed ungulates in this blog as there are no Zebra, Tapirs or Rhinos at wild in the country.

Horses have several mechanisms to escape from predators, one of which is their speed. They can sleep standing up or lying down and a new-born foal can stand and run almost immediately after birth.

Habitat and use

They are widespread and common, looked after by humans who provide them with food, water, shelter, veterinary services and shoes.

They are used for riding – for pleasure and in various sports. Until the rise of automation they provided transport and pulling power for agriculture.

In different countries they provide meat, milk, hide, hair, bone and pharmaceuticals from pregnant mares.

Types of Horse

There are hundreds of breeds; various named colours and colour patterns; and dozens of words used for types of horse. Unless it was born totally white, any horse with grey or white fur anywhere on its body is called a grey.

The followingterms are generally used – with some variation between sports and countries:

• A Foal is a horse less than a year old.
• A Yearling is aged one year.
• A Colt is a male horse under the age of four.
• A Filly is a female under four.
• A Stallion is an adult male.
• A Mare is an adult female.
• A Gelding is a castrated male.

Regardless of its actual date of birth a horse’s age is increased by one on 1 January each year. (In the Southern Hemisphere it’s 1 August.)

Shoes

The practice of shoeing horses arose about 1000 AD. It protects the hooves and is needed in many circumstances, especially in sports. But not all horses need shoes.

Other Notes

If you don’t walk in the countryside you may only see horses on television.

See also

This is one of the species for which there are no near relatives to look out for, unless you are visiting a zoo or animal park.

P.s. I have only just noticed that the horse in my second picture appears to have three legs. After searching back through my pictures, here is another view.

It looks perfectly happy. The hind leg has developed a bit more muscle to support the extra weight.

[129] Equisetum telmateia, Great Horsetail

[129] Equisetum Telmateia telmateia, Great Horsetail

Introduction

We met Equisetum, Horsetails, yesterday. The other fairly common species in the UK is Equisetum telmateia telmateia, the Great Horsetail. which is much larger. (There are a few other species.)

The two subspecies of Equisetum telmateia are geographically separated. The other one, Equisetum telmeteia braunii, is generally known as the Northern Giant Horsetail. Two other species of Equisetum are also called Giant Horsetails.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Polypodiopsida (Ferns and Horsetails)

Subclass – Equisetidae (Only Horsetails)

Order – Equisetales (Horsetails)

Family – Equisetaceae (Horsetails)

Genus – Equisetum (Horsetails)

Subgenus – Equisetum

Scientific Names – Equisetum telmateia

Horsetails are sometimes treated as a separate Division or Class and may be called Equisetophyta, Arthrophyta, Calamophyta, Spenophyta, Equisetopsida or Phenopsida

Name

Telmateia comes from Ancient Greek telma meaning pond, marsh or swamp. (Equisetum is definitely neuter so the ending of Telmateia looks wrong.)

Description

I can’t add much to what I said yesterday about Horsetails, which are all essentially similar. You can imagine Equisetum telmateia as being a larger version of Equisetum arvense.

It has similar but much larger long, hollow, segmented vertical stems. Circles of smaller long thin segmented stems emerge from the junctions between segments.

Equisetum telmateia can grow to a height of two metres. Below is a close-up, showing the segments of the main stem, each three or four centimetres long.

Spores are produced from separate stems that emerge before the main green stems.

Habitat

Equisetum telmateia tends to be found in damp places. It has two subspecies. Equisetum telmateia telmateia is found in Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. Equisetum telmeteia braunii comes from western North America.

Other Notes

In the UK Equisetum telmateia is rarer than Equisetum arvense..

See also

As you will have gathered there is nothing else quite like a horsetail.

[128] Equisetum arvense, Field Horsetail

[129] Equisetum Arvense, Field Horsetail

Introduction

Equisetum, Horsetails, are a taxonomic oddity. They are much more closely related to ferns than to flowering plants but they are not normally considered to be ferns. In the UK the most common species is Equisetum arvense, Field Horsetail.

Equisetum arvense is also known as Common Horsetail or Mare’s Tail.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Polypodiopsida (Ferns and Horsetails)

Subclass – Equisetidae (Only Horsetails)

Order – Equisetales (Horsetails)

Family – Equisetaceae (Horsetails)

Genus – Equisetum (Horsetails)

Subgenus – Equisetum

Scientific Names – Equisetum arvense

Horsetails are sometimes treated as a separate Division or Class and may be called Equisetophyta, Arthrophyta, Calamophyta, Spenophyta, Equisetopsida or Phenopsida

Name

The analogy with the tails of horses is obvious.

The Latin roots equi-setum mean horse-bristle. We have met arvense meaning ‘field’ or ‘common.’  It’s a common species epithet. (Masculine and feminine genera have arvensis, neuter ones use arvense.)

Description

The exact status of horsetails has been disputed and the modern view may include them within ferns. [It doesn’t make much difference. It’s a question of whether Polypoliopsida means Ferns including Horsetails – or Ferns and Horsetails.] There are many recognized species of extinct Horsetails but only one genus remains extant, with about twenty species worldwide.

All Horsetails have long, hollow, segmented vertical stems. Circles of smaller long thin segmented stems emerge from the junctions between segments.

Like ferns they reproduce by spores. The spores are produced from separate stems that emerge before the main green stems.

Habitat

Equisetum arvense is native to the temperate and Arctic areas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is widespread in the UK and grows in a variety of habitats.

Other Notes

Like many plants, horsetails are something I had never heard of before last year, but I now see Equisetum arvense a lot as a wildflower or weed. There is a section of the River Chelt with a carpet of horsetails along its bank for a few hundred metres.

See also

I have to apologise for a fairly sparse blog today. My original intention was to combine it with [129] Equisetum telmateia, which will now come tomorrow.

But, after completing over 160 blogs I discovered that the next one almost ready to go had been misidentified as a species only found in North America. So, I had to delete it, split this one and renumber everything in between. Fortunately, it was very close to number 128. (Yes, I have done 160. I don’t write them in strict order.)

[127] Epilobium hirsutum, Great Willowherb

[127] Epilobium hirsutum, Great Willowherb

Introduction

Epilobium hirsutum, Great Willowherb, is a common wildflower or weed with lots of pink flowers.

It is also known as Hairy Willowherb or Great Hairy Willowherb.

There are about two hundred species of Epilobium, mostly called willowherbs.

In the UK, the closely related Chamaenerion augustifolium, is generally known as Rosebay Willowherb. (This is the only Chamaenerion species, which used to be considered to be Epilobium.)

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Myrtales

Family – Onagraceae

Subfamily – Onagroideae

Tribe – Epilobieae

Genus – Epilobium

Section – Epilobium

Scientific Name – Epilobium hirsutum

Name

Willowherb comes from the similarity of the leaves to [307] Willow. Epilobium comes from Latinized Greek roots epi-lobos, ‘above toe lobe,’ relating to the position of the flower petals above the ovary. Hirsutum means hairy.

Chamaenerion originally meant ‘resembling Nerion’ in reference to what is now called Oleander, Nerium oleander. Linnaeus preferred Epilobium because of the awkward construction and spelling of Chamaenerion (now sometimes spelled as Chamerion.) The relationship of the two species is disputed. Augustifolium means narrow-leaved, which takes us back to Willowherb. Rosebay Willowherb adds references to the flowers resembling wild roses and the leaves resembling Bay.

Description

Epilobium hirsutum is a tall perennial plant, growing to about two metres in height.

The stems are covered with soft hairs.

The flowers are purple-pink, with four notched petals and a white stigma.

Habitat

Epilobium hirsutum is native to most of Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia – including all of the UK except North-western Scotland. It typically grows in wet areas. The large clump of plants shown below are beside a local lake.

See also

Chamaenerion augustifolium is known in North America as Fireweed but in the UK, it is always Rosebay Willowherb. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere.

Whether Chamaenerion is actually a separate genus from Epilobium is still disputed and it is also sometimes argued that it should be called Chamerion. So, Rosebay Willowherb has the synonyms Epilobium augustifolium and Chamerion augustifolium.

It is a pioneer species, frequently found in disturbed areas. In Britain its is often found beside railways and in America it is associated with burnt sites after fires. Hence the name Fireweed.

Sometimes you can’t beat Wikipedia, which says of this species, “The inflorescence is a symmetrical terminal raceme that blooms progressively from bottom to top producing a gracefully tapered shape.”

It is particularly impressive when several grow together and reach the skyline.

[126] Enallagma cyathigerum, Common Blue Damselfly

[126] Enallagma cyathigerum, Common Blue Damselfly

Introduction

Enallagma cyathigerum, the Common Blue Damselfly, is a common and widespread damselfly. Only the male is bright blue and there are several other very similar species.

It is also known as a Common Bluet or Northern Bluet. All species of Enallagma are known as Bluets and so are the confusingly similar Coenagrion species.

In context it is often called just a Common Blue when there is no confusion with [275] Polyommatus icarus, a butterfly also known as the Common Blue.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Odonata

Suborder – Zygoptera (Damselflies)

Superfamily – Coenagrionoidea

Family – Coenagrionidae (Narrow-winged Damselflies)

Genus – Enallagma

Scientific Name – Enallagma cyathigerum

Name

Enallagma comes from the Greek enallagma meaning (risk of) confusion because of the many confusingly similar damselfly species. Cyathigerum comes from Greek cyathos meaning cup, with the Latin ending -gerum, so it means cup-bearing, from the cup shaped marking that distinguishes this species.

(Thanks to www.dragonflypix.com/etymology.html for an extensive section on the names of dragonflies and damselflies.)

Description

The family Coenagrionidae contains over a thousand species of similar damselflies, sometimes called Pond Damselflies. All have narrow wings and a single colour marked with black patterns.

The male Common Blue is blue with black markings. It is often found in the same locations as its relative [087] Coenagrion puella, the Azure Damselfly. There are identifying differences in the side of the thorax (with a thicker black stripe for Azure) and the back of the second abdominal segment. I could try to convince you that I am an expert but, after hours of trying to understand several Field Guides and identification sources, I can’t really tell the difference. I am reliably informed from social media sites that my pictures are Common Blue. This is a male.

Females are more difficult to identify. They come in different colours but may be similar to the males. (The header picture is a female.)

These damselflies spend most of their life as larvae. This could be for a year or up to four years in colder climates further North. They can go into diapause, which is a form of hibernation.

They mate using a mating wheel where the male clasps the female by the neck and she loops her body.

They stay together until the female lays her eggs in vegetation just below water level.

Habitat

The Common Blue is found over Eurasia and northern Africa and its range includes all of the British Isles.

Larvae inhabit a variety of freshwater habitats.

Other Notes

I could say that I see a lot of these by a local unused canal. More precisely, I see lots of blue damselflies that are probably either Common Blue or Azure!

See also

Still to come are [186] the Blue-tailed Damselflies and [289] Large Red Damselfly.

[125] Emberiza schoeniclus, Reed Bunting

[125] Emberiza schoeniclus, Reed Bunting

Introduction

Emberiza schoeniclus, the (Common) Reed Bunting, is a common and widespread bird that has become a regular visitor to rural bird feeders.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Passeriformes

Family – Emberizidae

Genus – Emberiza

Scientific Name – Emberiza schoeniclus

The family Emberizidae until recently included several genera that have now been moved out. Now it only includes the genus Emberiza.

Name

All the nearly fifty species of Emberiza are called buntings, apart from the Yellowhammer. So, also, are many former members of Emberizidae. It is an old English word for these birds, of uncertain origins.

Emberiza comes from the German name of these birds, embritz, and schoeniclus comes from the Ancient Greek skhoiniklos, an unknown waterside bird.

Description

Like all buntings, Emberiza schoeniclus looks like a slightly larger, dumpy sparrow with mottled underparts.

The male has a dark back, mottled with red-brown and black, a black head and throat, and white neck and underparts.

The female is less dark, lacks the distinctive head, and has more mottled underparts.

They eat seeds and insects.

Habitat

Emberiza schoeniclus is found in summer over most of northern Eurasia. In winter it may move further south. It is resident over all of Britain apart from the very far north of Scotland.

Reed buntings are traditionally associated with wetlands and reeds but have learned to adapt. In winter they move to farmland and other open areas. They are one of the birds that have learned to come to rural bird feeders in winter.

Other Notes

The first Reed Bunting I spotted when I started birdwatching was on a golf course on open commons. I still see them in wetland areas, often on the tops of trees where their distinctive song (starting with a clear note repeated three times,) gives away their presence.

But more often I see them by bird feeders.

See also

Emberiza citronella, the Yellowhammer, is a similar, widespread and common bird found on farmland and open commons. The male, as its name suggests, is very yellow.

Emberiza calandra, the Corn Bunting, used to be common and widespread but is increasingly rare and is becoming an endangered species in Britain.

The Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, and Lapland Bunting (or, more correctly, the Lapland Longspur), Calcarius lapponicus, are rare winter visitors to Norfolk and other isolated areas. These two have been moved out of the Bunting family, but remain similar in size and shape.

[124] Elasmucha grisea, Parent Bug

[124] Elasmucha grisea, Parent Bug

Introduction

Elasmucha grisea, the Parent Bug, is a species of bug, common and widespread over Europe, which shows some aspects of parental care.

Common names are always difficult and other species of Elasmucha are also called Parent Bugs, as are some other bugs in the family Acanthasomatidae.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Hemiptera

Suborder – Heteroptera

Superfamily – Pentatomoidea

Family – Acanthosomatidae (Shield Bugs)

Genus – Elasmucha

Scientific Name – Elasmucha grisea

Name

I can’t trace Elasmucha. Grisea is, of course, grey.

Description

There are about two hundred species of Shield Bug. They are similar in appearance with wide pointed ‘shoulders’ and a triangular marking on the back. They generally differ in size and colour patterns.

Elasmucha grisea can be brown and reddish, grey or green and brown. There are dark dots on the upper back surface.

You may see them in groups of adults or mixed with final instars of the nymphs.

As with all bugs, the nymph stage may not be similar enough to the adult for easy identification.

Adults may be found all-year round and the adult stage overwinters.

It is relatively rare for insects to care for their young as the female Parent Bug does. She guards them, keeps them together and stays with them as they grow. When they reach their final instar, they may move away and may form groups with other final instars. Females can continue to guard these groups regardless of their parentage.

Habitat

Many bugs are very specific about their preferred plant food source. Elasmucha grisea can be found on [051] Birch, [017] Alder, [184] Holly or [266] Spruce. They feed on sap but will also eat developing seeds.

Other Notes

You may recognize some pictures on the developing cones of Alder.

See also

There are many other shield bugs. This is Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, The Hawthorn Shield Bug, which may be found on [103] Hawthorn, [291-2] Oaks or [321] Whitebeam.

[123] Elaeagnus pungens, Thorny Olive

[123] Elaeagnus pungens, Thorny Olive

Introduction

Elaeagnus pungens, the Thorny Olive, is a dense, branching shrub used as a decorative hedge plant. It is also known as the Spiny Oleaster or Silverthorn. Other species of Elaeagnus are also called Oleasters.

It should not be confused with the well-known Olive, Olea europaea, which is unrelated.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Rosales

Family – Elaeagnaceae (Oleasters)

Genus – Elaeagnus

Scientific Name – Elaeagnus pungens

There are several cultivars and hybrids and other Elaeagnus species are cultivated as ornamental shrubs.

Name

There are thorns on the stem, although these are not generally visible on a hedge, and it must look a bit like an Olive to come within the Oleasters. Oleaster is the Latin for an Olive tree.

Elaeagnus comes from Ancient Greek elaiagnos or eleagnos, possibly the name of an unrelated plant Myrica. Pungens is cognate with puncture, and means pricking (thorny.)

Description

I have to prefix my comments with the usual disclaimer. There are other cultivated Elaeagnus species but it is generally sold as a named cultivar or hybrid. I am fairly confident that my pictures are Elaeagnus but I am not so confident of the species.

The plainly shaped leaves have lots of tiny scales that can give a silvery effect.

There are two varieties shown above, one plain and one with variegated leaves. Both are evergreen and make excellent hedges with the leaves providing dense cover.

Habitat and use

Elaeagnus pungens is native to parts of Asia including China and Japan. Other species come from the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas and Canada.

Hybrids and cultivars are widely used as ornamental shrubs, especially as hedges.

See also

More hedges to come …

[122] Egretta garzetta, Little Egret

[122] Egretta garzetta, Little Egret

Introduction

Egretta garzetta, the Little Egret, is a bird in the Heron family – a smaller, all white relative of the Grey Heron. It is very new to Britain but now common enough to be called just an Egret locally.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Pelecaniformes

Family – Ardeidae

Genus – Egretta

Scientific Name – Egretta garzetta

Name

The word egret is an old word for this bird (or other egrets) coming from Old French aigrette, a diminutive of aigron, so it is ultimately cognate with heron. Garzetta is the Italian name for the Little Egret.

Description

Egretta garzetta has a black bill, long black legs and yellow feet but is otherwise all white. Apart from its colour it is very similar to [034] the Grey Heron, but distinctly smaller.

It wades in shallow water and catches fish in the same way as a heron. In general, the two birds are similar but the Egret is more gregarious and can be seen in small groups. They nest in colonies, often with other similar species.

Here are some pictures to show its size relative to the Grey Heron and some other birds.

The first gull is a [196] Lesser Black-backed Gull and the next one is a juvenile – so it is either Lesser Black-backed or a [195] Herring Gull. The last picture shows a [354] Lapwing and a [023] Mallard

Habitat and Use

The main native range of this bird is sub-Saharan Africa, tropical Asia and Australia, where they are resident, and other areas as summer or winter visitors.

The Little Egret has an interesting history in England. They were probably common in Britain and Ireland in Mediaeval times and were eaten at the feast at the coronation of King Henry VI in 1429, but became scarce and disappeared from Britain. This was caused by over-hunting together with the colder climates of the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries. They faced a similar decline in Europe, where they were extensively farmed for their feathers.

Then, from about the 1950s they began to reappear in Southern France and gradually further North, arriving in the south of England around the turn of the Twenty-first Century. Probably helped by global warming, they have spread and are now fairly common and widespread throughout England and Wales as breeding residents. In many places Egrets are more common than Herons.

Other Notes

My impression is that the Little Egret is now more often seen than the Grey Heron in wilder wetland environments, but not yet so evident in more urban areas such as ornamental lakes. Our local park often has a heron but I have only seen an egret there once. This is it:

See also

Here are some other relatively rare birds from the Heron/ Egret family.

• Ardea alba, the Great White Egret. Its bill is yellow and the feet are black and it is significantly larger than a Grey Heron. It used to be a very occasional vagrant visitor in England but is gradually becoming more common and has started to breed in some locations.
• Bubulcis ibis, the Cattle Egret. Even smaller than a Little Egret with a bright orange bill, it lives mainly on insects disturbed by cattle and other large grazing animals – still limited mainly to tropical Africa and Asia, but occasionally seen as a vagrant visitor to England.
• Botaurus stellaris, the Eurasian Bittern, from the Bittern subfamily of the Herons. They have mottled brown plumage and have a habit of walking very slowly with their bills pointing upwards, in a way that provides effective camouflage in reedbeds. It was until recently almost extinct in Britain. At first as a winter visitor it has returned to significant populations in a few areas.

In 1887 one London dealer sold over two million egret skins.

[121] Echium vulgare, Viper’s Bugloss

[121] Echium vulgare, Viper’s Bugloss

Echium plantagineum, Purple Viper’s Bugloss

Introduction

Echium vulgare, Viper’s Bugloss, and Echium plantagineum, Purple Viper’s Bugloss, are two similar species of common wildflowers with lots of blue flowers.

They should not be confused with Hadena irregularis, the Viper’s Bugloss, a moth whose caterpillar feeds on Echium vulgare and related plants.

Other species of Echium and the related species Anchusa, Amsinkia, Alcanna and Brunnera are also called Bugloss.

Echium vulgare is also known as Blueweed. In Australia Echium plantagineum has the alternative name Paterson’s Curse or Salvation Jane.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Boraginales

Family – Boraginaceae

Genus – Echium

Scientific Name – Echium vulgare, Echium plantagineum

Name

By now, you should expect the unexpected when it comes to names. Bugloss has nothing to do with losing bugs. It comes from the Greek ‘bouglosson’ meaning ox-tongue. I can’t find why it is called this, but it is probably because of its rough, hairy leaves. See [173] Helminthotheca echioides, Bristly Ox-tongue (which derives its species epithet from Echium!).

The reference to vipers is not clear. One theory is that the fruits are shaped as a viper’s head. Another is that the forked style of the flower resembles a viper’s tongue. Also, the plant roots also used to be used to treat snake bites.

Echium comes from ‘echis,’ the Greek word for viper. Vulgare, of course, means common. Plantagineum relates to [271] Plantago, Plantains, which have similar leaves.

Description

As wild plants, these are the ones to give the greatest displays of blue flowers. Echium vulgare has a single stem covered by all-round flowers.

Echium plantagineum is bushier, with perhaps a more purple colour.

Habitat and use

Echium vulgare is native to Europe including the UK and temperate Asia but has been introduced elsewhere, generally becoming naturalized and often invasive.

Echium plantagineum is native to parts of Europe, Asia and north Africa, including the south of England. It has also become invasive in places, especially Australia.

Both species are cultivated as garden plants (and some other Echium species.) Several cultivars are available, including some with white flowers.

Other Notes

Echium plantagineum was introduced to Australia in the 1880s as an ornamental plant and as an accidental contaminant of seeds. It has spread wildly and is sometimes used as a fodder plant but is poisonous to horses. Both of its Australian names probable come from Jane Paterson or Patterson, an early settler. It is now a widespread noxious weed in several states of Australia,

Most of the wildflowers I see are in relatively recently cultivated areas of meadow plants in our local plants so I can’t be sure whether are wild varieties or cultivated varieties. These two species and other Echium have cultivated varieties and when this happens it is not so easy to identify the exact species.

See also

Not in any way related are the Bristly Ox-tongue and [359] Viper.