Anchusa officinalis Seeds | Common Bugloss
LATIN NAME: Anchusa officinalis
COMMON NAME: Common Bugloss, Alkanet
Plant Profile
Alkanet is a rough, bristly perennial of the borage family, 60-90 cm tall, with lance-shaped hairy leaves and dense scorpioid clusters of deep blue flowers from May to July. The flower buds are pink and open to a blue that is closer to true blue than almost anything else in a temperate border.
The plant has a long taproot and a coarse, upright habit that suits a wild garden better than a formal border. It is short-lived but self-sows freely, and a colony will persist for decades by renewing itself from seed rather than from the original plants.
Anchusa officinalis comes from dry grassland and roadsides across Europe and western Asia. Its old names, bugloss and alkanet, refer to two different uses: the first to the rough leaves, the second to the red dye once extracted from the roots of a related genus.
Science & Biotechnology
The red dye known as alkanet comes mainly from Alkanna tinctoria, a Mediterranean relative, whose roots contain alkannin, a naphthoquinone pigment that gives a deep red in oil and a purple in alcohol. Anchusa officinalis contains related compounds, and its roots were used as a cheap substitute in dyeing and in cosmetics.
The family is also a source of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are liver-toxic when taken internally, and borage, comfrey and alkanet all carry them to some degree. That is why the medicinal use of these plants has largely been abandoned, and why the leaves should not be eaten in quantity.
The blue of the flower is produced by a metal-complex anthocyanin, a pigment that requires aluminium or magnesium ions to hold its colour. That is a rare mechanism, and it is the reason anchusa blue does not fade to pink the way a geranium does as the flower ages.
Uses & Benefits
Alkanet is grown for its blue in a wild border or a meadow, where its bristly texture and its long flowering suit a naturalistic planting. It combines well with grasses and with the yellow of euphorbias, and it is one of the best plants for a dry bank.
The root has a long history as a dye for wool, leather and oil, and it is still used in some traditional cosmetics as a colorant. In the garden the plant is a bee plant, and the seed is easy to save. It is not a culinary herb, and the pyrrolizidine content is the reason.
Growing from Seed
Sow in spring or autumn at 18-20°C, 0.5 cm deep, and expect germination in two to three weeks. The seed is large enough to handle, and direct sowing is preferable because of the taproot.
Plant out at 40 cm apart in full sun and well-drained soil, ideally on the poor side. Water through the first summer only. Cut the spent flowering stems to encourage a second flush, and leave a few to set seed if you want the colony to persist. The plant resents being moved once established, so choose the site carefully. Seed collected from the earliest heads gives the strongest plants, since late seed often fails to ripen in a cool summer.
Our Take
A blue that is genuinely blue, on a plant that asks for poor ground and gives back a decade of seedlings.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Common Bugloss often pair it with these related subjects: