''Cynoglossum germanicum'', the green houndstongue, is a flowering plant species, in the family
Boraginaceae
Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution.
The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...
, which is native to Europe.
Description
''Cynoglossum germanicum'' is a biennial or short-lived perennial herbaceous species, growing to a maximum height of 75cm.
It is similar to the closely related ''
Cynoglossum officinale
''Cynoglossum officinale'' (houndstongue, houndstooth, dog's tongue, gypsy flower, and rats and mice due to its smell) is a herbaceous plant of the family Boraginaceae.
Description
It can be either annual or biennial. Leaves are greyish and so ...
'', however differs in having glabrous, shiny, light-green leaves and nutlets which are more convex outside and lack a thickened border. The typical habitats of the two species also differ strongly.
Habitat and distribution
It grows in
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
glades, among
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
trees, and sometimes
hedgerows
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...
. It requires warm and nitrogen-rich conditions. It is native to Europe. It has become extinct in Scotland, but persists in England, where it is rare.
Conservation
The
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
has assessed the global conservation status of this species as critically endangered.
It was declining markedly in Britain before the Second World War, for unknown reasons, but benefited greatly from the
Great Storm of 1987, which felled many trees and opened up Britain's woodlands.
Etymology
''Cynoglossum'' comes from the Ancient Greek 'kunoglosson' for hound's or dog's tongue, a reference to the shape and roughness of the leaves.
Pulmonarias and the Borage Family
/ref> The species epithet ''germanicum'' means German, presumably the species was first identified in Germany.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1203135
germanicum