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Boraginaceae FAMILY

Echium lycopsis

Echium lycopsis

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

We have no specific information for this plant, but the following reports are for the related E. vulgare[PFAF]. The leaves are poisonous[1]. No cases of poisoning have ever been recorded for this plant[2]. The bristly hairs on the leaves and stems can cause severe dermatitis[3].

Cultivation Details

HabitBiennial
GrowthFast

Succeeds in any good garden soil but flowers best when the soil is not too rich[4].Prefers a warm position in a light, dry, stony soil[5]. Requires a sunny position[6]. The plant is very deep rooted[7]. A good bee plant[7].

Propagation

Seed - sow late winter-May or August-late autumn in situ. Germination usually takes place within 2 - 3 weeks at 15°c. If the seed is in short supply then it can be sown in pots in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Echium+lycopsis>

Pollinators

Bees, Flies, Lepidoptera

References

  1. [1]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  2. [2]Poisonous Plants in Britain and their Effects on Animals and Man. — Cooper. M. and Johnson. A. · HMSO · 1984 · ISBN 0112425291 ↩︎Concentrates mainly on the effects of poisonous plants to livestock.
  3. [3]The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. — Coffey. T. · Facts on File. · 1993 · ISBN 0-8160-2624-6 ↩︎A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.
  4. [4]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 Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  5. [5]The National Non-Food Crops Centre Crop Database — http://www.nnfcc.co.uk/crops/pd.cfm ↩︎An excellent on-line information source, with information on over 100 species (as of 2006) of plants being investigated as bio-crops.
  6. [6]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.
  7. [7]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  8. [8]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  9. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎