Anchusa azurea - Large Blue Alkanet

This startlingly blue wildflower can be found throughout the Mediterranean region on roadsides, in abandoned fields and in olive groves. When the flower buds first appear they are purple and coiled opening gradually to a deep ultramarine. Large Blue Alkanet is a member of the borage family (Boraginaceae) of plants; it blooms from March until June.

Borage, cultivated in herb gardens in the UK and used as an attractive addition to the fruit cup Pimms, is a close relative to this lovely wildflower.

The specimen pictured above was photographed in the Algarve in Portugal in May.