The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Echium plantagineum
Also called Paterson's curse, Purple Bugloss, Salvation Jane, Lady Campbell Weed, Riverina Bluebell, Blue Echium, Blueweed
Purple viper's-bugloss is a winter annual wildflower from Europe, North Africa and southwest Asia, now a widespread weed in Australia, South Africa and the US. It grows easily from seed in open, dry ground and is best kept out of pastures and grazing land.
Echium plantagineum, commonly known as purple viper's-bugloss, Paterson's curse or Salvation Jane, is a species of the genus Echium native to western and southern Europe (from southern England south to Iberia and east to the Crimea), northern Africa, and southwestern Asia (east to Georgia). It has also been introduced to Australia, South Africa, and United States, where it is an invasive weed. Due to a high concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, it is poisonous to grazing livestock, especially those with simple digestive systems, such as horses.
E. plantagineum – commonly called Paterson's curse or pyrrolizidinosis in veterinary medicine – contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which is poisonous to grazing animals, especially nonruminants. When eaten in large quantities, it causes reduced livestock weight, and death in severe cases, due to liver damage. Paterson's curse can kill horses, and irritate the udders of dairy cows and the skin of humans.
After the 2003 Canberra bushfires, a large bloom of the plant occurred on the burned land, and many horses became ill and died from grazing on it. Because the alkaloids can also be found in the nectar of Paterson's curse, the honey made from it should be blended with other honeys to dilute the toxins.
Echium aculeatum · Echium amoenum · Sand Bugloss · Echium brevirame · Pride of Madeira · Cretan viper's bugloss · Judean Viper's Bugloss · Pininana · Common viper's bugloss · Red bugloss · Viper's bugloss
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Echium plantagineum 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.
