Echium Explained

Echium ^[1] is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae that contains about 70 species and several subspecies.

Species of Echium are native to North Africa, mainland Europe to Central Asia, and the Macaronesian islands where the genus reaches its maximum diversity. Twenty-nine species of Echium are endemic to the Canary, Madeira, and Cape Verde archipelagos.^[2] The continental species are herbaceous, whereas many of the endemic species of the Macaronesian islands are woody perennial shrubs.^[3]

Etymology

The Latin genus name Echium comes from the Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔχιον echion, referring to Echium plantagineum^[4] and itself deriving from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἔχις echis (viper); the Greek term dates to Dioscorides, who noted a resemblance between the shape of the nutlets and a viper's head.^[5] The genus Echium was published by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.

Cultivation and uses

Many species are used as ornamental and garden plants and may be found in suitable climates throughout the world. In Crete, Echium italicum is called pateroi (πάτεροι) or voidoglosses (βοϊδόγλωσσες) and its tender shoots are eaten boiled or steamed.^[6]

Echium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora onosmella and orange swift.

In some countries Echium extract has been used as cure for various diseases and is believed to have beneficial properties.

Echium seed oil

The seed oil from E. plantagineum contains high levels of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), gamma-linolenic acid, and stearidonic acid, making it valuable in cosmetic and skin-care applications, with further potential as a functional food, as an alternative to fish oils.^[7] However, despite its high ALA content, Echium seed oil does not increase docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid levels.^[8]

Invasiveness

Some species have been widely naturalized in Mediterranean climates, including South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of South America and the United States. For example, Echium plantagineum has become a major invasive species in Australia.^[9]

Species

68 species are accepted.

1. Echium acanthocarpum
2. Echium aculeatum
3. Echium albicans
4. Echium amoenum
5. Echium anchusoides
6. Echium angustifolium
7. Echium arenarium
8. Echium asperrimum
9. Echium auberianum
10. Echium × bailaderense
11. Echium bethencourtii
12. Echium boissieri
13. Echium × bond-spraguei
14. Echium bonnetii
15. Echium brevirame
16. Echium callithyrsum
17. Echium candicans
18. Echium canum
19. Echium clandestinum
20. Echium creticum
21. Echium decaisnei
22. Echium flavum
23. Echium gaditanum
24. Echium giganteum
25. Echium glomeratum
26. Echium handiense
27. Echium hierrense
28. Echium horridum
29. Echium humile
30. Echium hypertropicum
31. Echium italicum
32. Echium judaeum
33. Echium khuzistanicum
34. Echium × lemsii
35. Echium leucophaeum
36. Echium × lidii
37. Echium longifolium
38. Echium lusitanicum
39. Echium modestum
40. Echium montenielluense
41. Echium nervosum
42. Echium onosmifolium
43. Echium pabotii
44. Echium parviflorum
45. Echium perezii
46. Echium petiolatum
47. Echium pininana
48. Echium pitardii
49. Echium plantagineum
50. Echium portosanctense
51. Echium rauwolfii
52. Echium rosulatum
53. Echium rubrum
54. Echium sabulicola
55. Echium salmanticum
56. Echium simplex
57. Echium spurium
58. Echium stenosiphon
59. Echium strictum
60. Echium suffruticosum
61. Echium sventenii
62. Echium x taibiquense
63. Echium tenue
64. Echium thyrsiflorum
65. Echium triste
66. Echium trygorrhizum
67. Echium tuberculatum
68. Echium velutinum
69. Echium virescens
70. Echium vulcanorum
71. Echium vulgare
72. Echium webbii
73. Echium wildpretii

Formerly placed here

• Megacaryon orientale (as Echium orientale)
• Pontechium maculatum (as Echium maculatum)

Notes and References

1. Book: Sunset Western Garden Book . Sunset Books . 1995 . 9780376038500 . 606–607.
2. da Costa . Ricardo Pires . The pollinator community of the Madeiran endemic Echium candicans: individual-based network metrics, relation with plant traits, and pollinator behaviour . 2019 . Master's . . English.
3. Böhle . Uta-Regina . Hilger . Hartmut H. . Martin . William F. . October 1996 . Island colonization and evolution of the insular woody habit in Echium L. (Boraginaceae) . . 93 . 21 . 11740–11745. 10.1073/pnas.93.21.11740 . free . 8876207 . 38128 . 1996PNAS...9311740B .
4. .
5. Pusateri . William P. . Blackwell, Jr. . Will H. . December 1979 . The Echium vulgare Complex in Eastern North America . . 44 . 4 . 223–229 . 4033180 . JSTOR.
6. Book: Stavridakis . Η Άγρια βρώσιμη χλωρίδα της Κρήτης . K.G. Stav̲ridaki̲s. 2006 . 9789606311796 . Bilingual . en, el . Wild Edible Plants of Crete.
7. Web site: June 2009 . Echium Crop Fact Sheet . January 2, 2023 . nlaf.uk.
8. Lane . Katie E. . Wilson . Megan . Hellon . Teuta G. . Davies . Ian G. . February 12, 2021 . Bioavailability and conversion of plant based sources of omega-3 fatty acids – a scoping review to update supplementation options for vegetarians and vegans . . 62 . 18 . 4982–4997 . 10.1080/10408398.2021.1880364 . 33576691 . 231899843 . free.
9. Web site: Wolf . Kristina . June 12, 2016 . Echium plantagineum Risk Assessment . California Invasive Plant Council.