CYNOGLOSSUM OFFICINALE
Common Names:- Hounds tongue
Homotypic synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Cynoglossum (Gr) Comes from the ancient Greek words kyon (dog)
and glossa (tongue), meaning "dog's tongue," referring to the shape and rough
texture of the leaves.
Officinale (L) Officinal medicine.
General description:- A biennial herbaceous plant featuring a stout woody taproot,
soft grey-green hairy leaves shaped like a hound's tongue, dull reddish-purple
funnel-shaped flowers, and barbed, bur-like nutlets that cling to animal fur and
clothing.
Root:-
1) Taproot, thick, deep dark brown, woody, containing toxic alkaloids.
Stems:-
1) Erect, stout, and single or branching near the top, 30 to 120 cm tall. Pubescent-
hirsute.
Leaves:-
1) Basal, (First Year Rosette). Large, lingulate or lanceolate-oblong, 10-30 cm long
x 2-5 cm wide, tapering to a short petiole, grey-green, and softly hairy on both
sides.
2) Cauline, (Second Year Stem). Alternate, becoming smaller, narrower, and sessile
(clasping the stem directly) as they ascend. Margins, entire.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, arranged in dense, one-sided, curving terminal or axillary racemes
that elongate as they bloom.
2) Corolla, funnel-shaped, small (5 to 8 mm across), with five lobes, starting out a
deep reddish-purple or dull maroon-red, sometimes fading slightly with age.
3) Calyx, five-parted with lanceolate, hairy sepals.
4) Hermaphrodite flowers, pollinated mainly by bumblebees or via self-pollination.
Fruit:-
1) Nutlets, broadly ovoid, about 5 to 7 mm long, covered completely with short,
hooked barbed prickles that facilitate epizoochorous dispersal.
Toxicity:- A toxic biennial plant containing harmful pyrrolizidine alkaloids that
damage the liver and nervous system.
Habitat:- Grows best in dry, base-rich, or alkaline soils on disturbed, open ground
such as sand dunes and shingle beaches, open land, dry grasslands, meadows,
and old fields, disturbed sites, roadsides, waste ground, field edges, ruins, and
gravelly areas.
Distribution:- Native across Europe, extending east to western and southern
Siberia and Iran, and has become widely introduced and naturalized in North
America and parts of Australia. Native to Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel
Islands. In Britain, it is in decline and primarily concentrated in coastal regions of
southern England and Wales, becoming increasingly rare further north. Rare and
scarce in Ireland.
Flowering time:- From May to August.
Status:- Great Britain, classified on the GB Red List as Near Threatened (NT).
Ireland classified on the Irish Red List as Near Threatened (NT) and considered rare.
The plant has declined sharply since the late 20th century due to habitat loss and
herbicide use, though it remains frequent in specific coastal and chalky regions like
East Anglia and the South Downs. It becomes increasingly rare further north in the
UK.
Photos by:-