Echium italicum L. subsp. italicum

Spice Flower In the field

Family: BORAGINACEAE

Genus: Echium

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Girona. Lleida. Tarragona.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Formentera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

Habitats: Cultivated fields, path and road sides, disturbed zones. Path and road sides, disturbed zones.

Characteristics: A biennial herbaceous species has a rosette of fairly large, lanceolate leaves, almost 40 cm in length, scratchy to the touch. Characterised above all by its inflorescence, which is tall, straight, cylindrical, covered with rigid, prickly hairs; flowers are white, approximately a centimetre in length. Subspecies pyrenaicum is distinct, as its inflorescences overstretch the other plants in the field, and this makes them easy to spot and recognize. Flowers during the month of May and June.