Syn.: Echium russicum J. F. Gmelin, Echium rubrum Jacq., Pontechium maculatum (L.) U.-R. Böhle et Hilger
Family: Boraginaceae Juss.
Distribution: Central and southeastern Europe, eastward to Ukraine, European Russia, Azerbaijan and northern Turkey, southward to Albania and Bulgaria, northward to southern Moravia and southeastern Poland.
Ecology: It grows in steppes, on dry slopes and meadows. Blooms from June to August.
Description: Biennial herb, 30–100 cm tall, with 1 to several flowering stems. Stem erect, unbranched, 30–100 cm tall, hispid. Leaves lanceolate to narrowly elliptical, 55–100 × 4–10 mm, attenuate at the base, with soft, appressed setae. Inflorescence spike-like; calyx lobed almost to the base, 5–6 mm; corolla 9–12 mm, more or less infundibuliform, dark red, very rarely white, with 4–5 long-exserted stamens. The fruits are nutlets.
Threat and protection: Echium maculatum is protected by law in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania.
These images were taken in Czechia, Moravia, Brno, Hády (from May 29 to July 14, 2003) and Moravia, Kurdějov (June 6, 2004).
