Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Cynoglossum officinale
common hound's-tongue
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Widely distributed east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Roadsides, fields, meadows, forest edge, ditches, and other disturbed open areas; noxious weed.

Flowers: May-July

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Growth Duration: Biennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, flies

Description:
General:

Coarse, leafy biennial, the single stem 3-12 dm. tall, covered with long, soft hairs throughout.

Leaves:

Lowermost leaves oblanceolate, tapering to the petiole, 1-3 dm. long and 2-5 cm. wide; other leaves sessile, oblong or lanceolate, numerous, gradually reduced upward.

Flowers:

Inflorescence of numerous false racemes in the upper leaf axils or terminating short axillary branches, the pedicels curved and spreading; sepals 5-lobed, deeply cleft, 5-8 mm. long, the lobes broad and blunt; corolla dull reddish-purple, with a slender tube and abrupt spreading limb, the limb about 1 cm. wide; appendages in the throat of the corolla exerted, broadly rounded.

Fruits:

Nutlets 4, ovoid, 5-7 mm. long, attached to the style.

Accepted Name:
Cynoglossum officinale L.
Publication: Sp. Pl. 1: 134. 1753.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
(none provided)
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Cynoglossum officinale in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Cynoglossum officinale checklist entry

OregonFlora: Cynoglossum officinale information

E-Flora BC: Cynoglossum officinale atlas page

CalPhotos: Cynoglossum officinale photos

49 photographs:
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