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Cynoglossum officinale
Also called Hound's Tongue, Common Houndstongue, Gypsy Flower, Rats And Mice, Houndstongue, Hound’s Tongue
Gypsyflower is a biennial herb (sometimes annual) in the borage family, with greyish, softly hairy leaves and reddish-purple funnel-shaped flowers from May to September. It is a wild plant of roadsides, hedges and waste ground rather than a garden favourite, and it is grown mainly for interest or wildlife.
Cynoglossum officinale (houndstongue, houndstooth, dog's tongue, gypsy flower, and rats and mice due to its smell) is a herbaceous plant of the family Boraginaceae.
Cynoglossum officinale contains tumorigenic pyrrolizidine alkaloids. It is toxic to cows and is especially dangerous to pasture owners.
Found in most parts of Europe, and also North America, where it was accidentally introduced including in British Columbia, where it is designated a noxious weed under the British Columbia Weed Control Act. It lives in wet places, sand dunes, waste land and hedges.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cynoglossum officinale by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
