Echium asperrimum Lam.

Family: BORAGINACEAE

Genus: Echium

Sinònims: Echium italicum L. subsp. pyrenaicum Rouy

Catalan common name: Bolenga.

Spanish common name: Viborera.

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

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

General distribution (Phytogeography): West Mediterranean

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

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

Characteristics: A biennial cycle herb, firstly it forms a rosette of leaves along the ground, in the second year it forms the inflorescence. The whole plant is covered with sharp, rigid hairs. The leaves are lanceolate, up to 30 cm long. The inflorescence is very branched, with longer basal branches than the tip ones, so the inflorescence has a pyramidal shape. This feature makes this subspecies (also known at a certain level as Echium asperrinum) different from the typical one which has a cylindrical inflorescence. The flowers are pinkish; it is very hairy. It lives in dry fields and along path-sides. It flowers at the end of spring.