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Boraginaceae FAMILY

Anchusa officinalis

Anchusa officinalis

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitBiennial/Perennial
Growth—

Succeeds in most soils, preferring a sunny position[1]. Prefers a fertile well-drained soil[2]. The flowers are a rich source of nectar and are very attractive to bees[1]. The dry leaves emit a rich musky fragrance, rather like wild strawberry leaves drying.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in pots of sandy soil[3]. An overnight drop in temperature helps germination[4]. The seed usually germinates in 1 - 4 weeks at 21°c[4]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. The seed can also be sown in an outdoor seed bed during July, transplanting the plants to their final positions during early autumn[5]. These plants will grow larger and flower earlier than those sown in spring. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Anchusa+officinalis>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  2. [2]Popular Hardy Perennials. — Sanders. T. W. · Collingridge · 1926 · ISBN - ↩︎A fairly wide range of perennial plants that can be grown in Britain and how to grow them.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Growing from Seed. Volume 1. — Rice. G. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1987 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation.
  5. [5]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  6. [6]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  7. [7]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  8. [8]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  9. [9]The Useful Plants of Great Britain. — Johnson. C. P. ↩︎Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.
  10. [10]The Milder Garden. — Taylor. J. · Dent · 1990 ↩︎A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.
  11. [11]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  12. [12]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  13. [13]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.