Echium decaisnei
The Canary Islands are famous for echiums. The best known are the towering E. pininiana from La Palma and the beautiful red-flowered E. wildpretii from Tenerife. But there are many others and the west side of Gran Canaria is the home of E. decaisnei (although I think it is also found on other islands). It is a perennial, shrubby echium to about 1.5m high and grows on slopes and cliffs and in recently disturbed soils beside roads at cooler elevations. The flowers are white but there is pink or blue in the throat that must tell pollinators the age of the flowers or, perhaps, if the flowers have been pollinated. Echiums are in the Boraginaceae and a feature of many of the genera is that the flowers change from pink to blue – think pulmonaria and myosotis. This is another plant that would be a good addition to frost-free gardens – oh to live in San Francisco!
Echium decaisnei growing wild, high on the roads above Tocodoman in the Barranco de la Aldea
they are great . anywhere warm sounds good at moment and going to be bitterly cold tomorrow brrrrrrr
Yes I will be glad when this cold snap ends – though that will probably mean rain! Not as frosty this morning though – but still frozen!
Very nice, yes, they say California has mediterranean-like weather in most parts. Mediterranean is different from “Tropical Marine” (which is how this is classified here). I don’t know any of the Mediterranean plants for that reason.