Flowers. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Withered plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Plants. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Blayney-Crookwell Road, NSW

Plant. Photo: Russell Best, near Sunbury, Vic

Basal rosette. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Paterson's Curse; Salvation Jane; Purple Vipers Bugloss

Family

Boraginaceae

Notes

Introduced annual or rarely biennial forb to 1.5m tall.  Leaves basal and alternating up the stems, stem leaves with a cordate base or with basal lobes, loosely stem clasping. Leaves 4-30cm long, 8-100mm wide, flat, hairy, often with slightly hairy edges.  Basal leaves with blunt tips, stem leaves with pointed tips.  Flowers usually purple or blue, rarely pink or white, funnel-shaped, with five lobes, in racemes at the tops of the branches.  Declared plant in SA.  Noxious weed in Vic. 

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 561

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Echium~plantagineum

Weeds of Australia Biosecurity Queensland description:  http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/03030800-0b07-490a-8d04-0605030c0f01/media/Html/Echium_plantagineum.htm#Habit