Like most of the Borage family this is a very hairy plant. The rather insignificant blue flowers are found on a sprawling plant almost procumbent. The name bugloss derives probably from the Greek for ox: bous and tongue: glossa so that the combination buglosse in old English referred to the leaves which are like the tongue of an ox supposedly. The French still refer to this plant as Langue de Boeuf, which translates to Ox tongue in English.

This is quite a common plant in England but does have a greater tendency to populate coastal and eastern regions. There is not much to be found in central Scotland, Wales or Ireland.

Set-aside Field near Scarborough 11th June 2005

Added on 10th October 2005, updated 29th June 2008, updated Feb 26th 2010, updated 24th August 2018