Anchusa Italica

Anchusa Italica 

or Italian bugloss, a biennial or perennial plant of the family Boraginaceae. The whole plant is thickly covered with bristles. The root is a taproot. The stem is upright and reaches a height of 40–100 cm. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate; the lower ones are tegular, gathered in a rosette, and the upper ones are sessile. The inflorescence is paniculate, and the flowers are rather large and of a blue and light blue color. The fruit consists of four trihedral nutlets. The plant grows as a weed among crops of alfalfa, flax, sesame, wheat, barley, rye, oats, millet, and in pastures and hay. A. italica is distributed throughout the Mediterranean region and in Asia; in the USSR it is found in the southern European part, in the Caucasus, and in Middle Asia. Control measures include weeding the cultivated areas, plowing the field after harvesting and in the fall, and spraying the cultivated area with herbicides.