Echium

echium

(ˈɛkɪəm) n (Plants) 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[New Latin, from Greek echion, from echis viper, from its use as an antidote to a viper bite]

Thesaurus

Noun

Echium - a genus of bristly herbs and shrubs of the family Boraginaceaegenus Echiumplant genus - a genus of plantsborage family, Boraginaceae, family Boraginaceae - a widely distributed family of plants distinguished by circinate flowers and nutlike fruitblue devil, blue thistle, blueweed, Echium vulgare, viper's bugloss - a coarse prickly European weed with spikes of blue flowers; naturalized in United States

Echium

(viper’s bugloss), a genus of plants of the family Boraginaceae. The plants are annual, biennial, or perennial stiff-haired herbs or, rarely, shrubs. The leaves are alternate and entire. The irregular flowers are dark blue, purple, yellow, or white; they are gathered in bostryces, which form a panicled inflorescence. The calyx is dissected almost to its base, and the corolla is funnel-shaped and oblique. The fruit consists of four nutlets.

There are more than 40 species, distributed in Europe, West Asia, and northern and southern Africa. Five species are found in the USSR. The blue-weed (E. vulgare), a biennial with dark blue flowers, grows in wastelands and deserts, on slopes, along roads, in fields and in overgrown places. Echium is a valuable nectariferous plant and source of beebread. The blue-weed is often cultivated. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Echium rossicum (formerly E. rubrum) is found in the steppe zone of the European USSR, in the Caucasus, and in Middle Asia. Its roots contain a dye.

Echium

echium

Echium

Echium

Echium

Synonyms for Echium

noun a genus of bristly herbs and shrubs of the family Boraginaceae

Synonyms

Related Words