Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Hound's Tongue
Cynoglossum officinale
Borage family (Boraginaceae)

A native of Europe, Houndstongue is considered a weed in many areas of the U.S. The plant's common name arises from two attributes: its leaf vein pattern resembles a dog's tongue, and its leaves are rough like a hound's tongue. An even more likely relation to your dog is that the will be found imbedded in its fur. The plant can cause human skin reactions and contains alkaloids which are toxic to animals and humans.

"Cynoglossum," is Greek for "dog's tongue." "Officinale" ("sold in shops") indicates that the plant was, at the time of the naming of the plant, considered a medicinal to be sold in a shop, an apothecary shop.


©2011 Barry Breckling

Description

Introduced, single-stemmed , 1-4' tall, with numerous leaves that are soft hairy. Clusters of red-purple flowers have 5 petals in a funnel shape. branches unfurl like scorpion tails to reveal of flowers. Each flower produces 4 -like seeds covered with short, barbed prickles. Plant forms a in its first year of growth and a flowering stem in the second year. is circle of large (up to 12") hairy leaves that are rough to the touch and lack or .

Field Marks

Red-purple cup-shaped flowers, broad (like a dog's tongue), seeds stick to passer-bys.

© Al Schneider

fused means joined together.

rosette -- usually a dense cluster of leaves at the base of a plant.

A noxious weed is considered to be harmful to the environment or animals. Often a governing body designates plants as noxious.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

a hard, dry fruit containing only one seed that does not open at maturity.

terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

biennial -- a plant which lives for two years, producing a basal rosette of leaves the first year and a full plant, flower, and seed the second year followed by the death of the entire plant at the end of the second year.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.