Cynoglossum officinale

Common hound's tongue, Common Hound's Tongue

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: biennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Common hound's tongue is a naturalized biennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern High Sierra Nevada, and northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in disturbed areas, often associated with logging activities, at elevations of 850 to 1,850 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces small reddish-purple flowers with a limb 4 to 9 millimeters in diameter. Growing with soft-hairy stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall, it develops multiple stems that spread widely. Its leaves are soft-hairy, with basal leaves having long petioles and oblanceolate or narrow-elliptic blades 8 to 20 centimeters long, tapering at the base. The plant produces distinctive nutlets that spread downward with slightly raised margins.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, often associated with logging activities

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 850-1850 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, n SNH

California counties: Shasta, Mariposa, Siskiyou, Plumas, Alpine, Marin, Sierra

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