Anchusa officinalis

Common alkanet, Common Alkanet

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Common alkanet is a naturalized perennial found in the Sacramento Valley and northern California foothills along roadsides at elevations of 70 to 150 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces violet to blue-violet flowers with white appendages, forming a salverform corolla 6 to 12 millimeters in diameter. Growing with stems 40 to 70 centimeters tall, the plant has an upright habit with moderately branched growth. Its leaves are distinctively narrow, with upper leaves measuring 5 to 10 millimeters wide, becoming progressively smaller toward the stem apex. The fruit consists of small nutlets with an incurved tip and a base 2 to 3.5 millimeters wide.

Habitat: Roadsides

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 70-150 m

Bioregions: CaRF, ScV

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.