Borago officinalis L.

Annual, sometimes biennial. Stems and lvs strigosely hispid. Basal rosette lvs to c. 30 × 20 cm, lanceolate, ovate or broadly ovate, petiolate; base usually rounded or cuneate; apex acute; stem lvs much smaller, becoming sessile and slightly amplexicaul in upper stem. Pedicels to c. 3 cm long, becoming deflexed. Calyx c. 10 mm long at anthesis, elongating at fruiting; lobes linear or linear-lanceolate. Corolla limb c. 2.5 cm diam.; lobes slightly directed backwards, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute, blue, occasionally white. Staminal cone erect, c. 10 mm long, acute, black or nearly so. Nutlets 5–8 mm long, with irregular longitudinal ridges.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

Flowering: Sep.–May.