Echium italicum - Pale Bugloss - (Boraginaceae)

The pyramidal shape of this plant makes it a very distinctive member of the Borage (Boraginaceae) family, but its pale flowers are much less striking than those of other bugloss species.

Pale bugloss

This wildlfower is easily identified by its distinctive pyramidal shape.

Pale borage can grow up to a metre in height and is common throughout the Mediterranean region. It is not fussy about its habitat, either, and can be found in rocky and grassy habitats alike, as well as in abandoned farmland, in pastures, on roadsides and on waste ground.

A close-up picture of the flowers of Pale bugloss

The flowers of Echium italicum are much paler than those of many other species of bugloss.

This wildflower blooms from April through to the beginning of July, by which time most other Mediterranean wildflowers have died back.

The plants shown on this page were photographed in Crete at the beginning of April.