Echium vulgare

One of my favourite flowers is Viper’s Bugloss. Its all over the dry parts of the South Island of NZ. A noxious weed to the locals.

The viper part of the name came about from a perceived resemblance between the seeds and a viper’s head. The bugloss part is of Greek origin, meaning an Ox’s Tongue, which was correlated to the roughness and shape of the leaves.

But note its Viper’s Ox Tongue, not Ox Tongue’s viper. Apparently the plant often grows near large patches of marijuana which probably explains the odd name with more clarity.

In the middle ages Viper’s Bugloss was thought to be a useful antidote to snakebite based on the fanciful logic that the appearance of a plant indicates its use to humanity.

Now there’s a great example of why all hypotheses should be carefully tested.