| Walla
Walla County Noxious Weed Control Board
Weed of the Month Common Bugloss
Common bugloss (Anchusa officinalis L.) is a perennial herb with a deep taproot reproducing primarily from seed. It has many names: common anchusa, alkanet, bee bread, ox's tongue, starflower, common borage, orchanet, Spanish bugloss, enchusa, lingua bovina, and blue bugloss. It has shown up in home Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) vegetation seedings for the last three years. The plant ranges from one to two feet tall, with several flowering stems. Common bugloss forms a rosette of basal leaves in its first year with a blue-purple flowered stalk in its second year. Multiple flower stalks form in subsequent years. The stems and leaves are fleshy, and the overall plant is coarsely hairy. The basal leaves are narrowly oblong with a stalk attaching them to the stems. The leaves along the angular plant stems are progressively smaller up the stem and the upper leaves are stalk-less with either smooth or slightly toothed edges. Common bugloss flowers from May to October. The blue to purple flowers have white throats. The five-lobed flowers originate in coiled clusters like a fiddle neck at the end of stems. As the flowers open, these coils unfold and straighten out. The fruit is a four-chambered nutlet; each nutlet contains one seed. A mature plant can produce up to 1000 seeds a season. Native to Europe, common bugloss prefers dry, lime-free, sandy and gravelly soils. It invades dry fields, open pastures, roadsides, and disturbed areas and is a problem for hay producers, as its fleshy stalks and leaves do not cure and cause baled hay to mold. Though not poisonous to livestock or wildlife, it has been shown to reduce carrying capacity in pasture lands and competes with native plants. Cultivation, digging, and pulling can all be effective if sufficient tap root is removed but new shoots can develop from root stock fragments. No approved biological control agent is available. Chemical control is difficult due to the plant’s rough, hairy surface. Use a surfactant and spray in early spring when plants are in the rosette stage. Several herbicides have shown control: Weedmaster, Tordon (restricted use), or a Banvel, Escort and 2,4,D mix. ALWAYS FOLLOW PESTICIDE LABEL INSTRUCTIONS.> |
