Buglossoides

Around 7 species from the Mediterranean and Asia, blue or white flowers, in spring to summer. Tolerating sunny or part shade sites. B. atropurpurea has blue flowers typical of Boraginaceae, similar in colour to Lithospermum and Anchusa.

Our plant with the most intensely blue flowers, attracts numerous pollinators including honeybees, bee-flies and hairy-footed flower-bees. The distinctive white nutlets are eaten by seed-eating birds. It is a rare native British species, mostly in the warmer southwesterly parts of the country, but elsewhere is increasingly becoming established as a result of escapes from garden cultivation.So as not to mask its natural distribution, and because it can form quite dense patches, care should be taken to avoid it escaping from gardens.