echium

/ ˈɛkɪəm /

noun

1. any plant of the Eurasian and African genus Echium with bell-shaped flowers sometimes borne on single-sided spikes in a wide variety of colours; E. vulgare is viper's bugloss: family Boraginaceae

Word History and Origins

Origin of echium¹

New Latin, from Greek echion, from echis viper, from its use as an antidote to a viper bite

Example Sentences

"Echium gentianoides is rare, being confined to La Palma in the Canary Islands, and classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as vulnerable due to browsing and predation by goats and other invasive species," says Dr Paul P Smith, Secretary General, Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

From BBC

The result is a combination of plants that provide structure and texture, and flowers such as euphorbia, echium, helichrysum and agapanthus.

From New York Times

Frank Forcella, a research agronomist with the agency, says echium could bring more money per acre than corn.

From Washington Times

Echium, in Borraginaceæ, 367 Ovary not lobed; pod many-seeded.

From Project Gutenberg

Deductions still more absurd, if possible, are recorded: thus saxifrage, and other plants that grow in rocky places, embodied as if it were in calcareous beds, were advised to dissolve the stone; and the echium, bearing some faint resemblance to a viper, was deemed infallible in the sting inflicted by this reptile.

From Project Gutenberg