Anchusa strigosa Prickly Alkanet
The plant in the photo was about a metre tall which made it one of the smallest ones in this area where 2 a height of metres was commoner. The flowers can be azure blue but in this region white, pale blue and blue were the commonest colours. The plant as well as being very tall is very variable as far as the numbers of prickles on the stem is concerned. On some the barbs were numerous but others had none at all.
Strigosa suggests stiff hairs like hispida but on this plant there are substantial prickles so perhaps aculeata meaning substantially prickly would have been a better species name assuming it is not used already in Anchusa.
A. strigosa is largely and eastern Mediterranean plant found in Turkey and Israel as well as in Cyprus.
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| Anchusa strigosa Prickly Alkanet | Anchusa strigosa Prickly Alkanet (Blue flower) | Anchusa strigosa Prickly Alkanet (Stem showing prickles) |
Countryside near Vuoni Donkey Sanctuary, Cyprus 17th April 2011
Added on April 29th 2011, updated 11th Nov 2014