any plant of the Eurasian and African genus Echium with bell-shaped flowers sometimes borne on single-sided spikes in a wide variety of colours; E. vulgare is viper's bugloss: family Boraginaceae
Word origin
New Latin, from Greek echion, from echis viper, from its use as an antidote to a viper bite
Examples of 'echium' in a sentence
echium
Echium pininana is another showstopping biennial that will thrive in mild areas.