Anchusa azurea 'Loddon Royalist'

Anchusa azurea Mill. Boraginaceae. Italian bugloss. Herbaceous perennial. 'Loddon Royalist' is a cultivar which has the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. Distribution: North Africa, E. Asia, Europe. Contains the pyrrolizidine alkaloid cynoglossine which causes liver damage. Anchusa officinalis is a banned substance for herbal medicine in Australia, it is not licensed for the manufacture of herbal medicine in the UK but recommended, with cautions, by herbalists for coughs and other conditions. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.