Borago officinalis

Borage (Borago officinalis), is an annual herb in the Boraginaceae plant family.

It is native to the Mediterranean region, but now cultivated around the world for its edible uses and herbal properties.

The leaves are large and rough, covered in bristles or hairs all over the stems and leave.

It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales. It grows well in gardens in most of Europe, such as Ireland, Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom.

👨‍🌾GARDENING TIPS👨‍🌾: Borago officinalis

• • It is not a perennial, but it remains in the garden from year to year by self-seeding.
  • Bioremediation potential : Borage is a salt-accumulating species and can take up high levels of sodium and chlorine ions that are toxic to other plants > it can thus be cultivated as an inter-crop to help remediate saline soils.
  • Looks great with Echinacea purpurea, Stipa tenuissima and Lavandula angustifolia

Learn more about gardening with Borage:

• • ENG: Gardening with Borage
  • FR : Jardiner avec la Bourrache

👩‍🍳COOKING TIPS👩‍🍳: Borago officinalis

• • One of the better known German borage recipes is the Frankfurt speciality grüne Soße (“green sauce”).
  • In Persian cuisine, borage tea (using the dried purple flowers) is called گل گاوزبان : gol gâvzabân, “cow’s-tongue-flower”
  • As a fresh vegetable, borage, with a cucumber-like taste, is often used in salads or as a garnish (often seen in Spanish or Greece)
  • In Italy, borage is always eaten cooked, and is most commonly used to fill ravioli in the regions of Campania and Liguria.

The Tale & The Botany: Borago officinalis

Since ancient times it has been one of the most famous and valuable herbs, and has been used in medicine for more than 700 years. It should be noted that the fresh herb contains trace toxins which are hepatotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic.

King Henry VIII’s last wife, Catherine Parr, used borage in a concoction to treat melancholy.

Francis Bacon thought that borage had “an excellent spirit to repress the fuliginous vapour of dusky melancholie”.

John Gerard’s Herball translated an old verse concerning the plant: “Ego Borago, Gaudia semper ago (I, Borage, bring always joys)”. However it has been stated recently that ‘gaudia’ is closer to ‘delight’ than ‘courage’

He asserts:

Those of our time do use the flowers in salads to exhilerate and make the mind glad. There be also many things made of these used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the mind. The leaves and flowers of Borage put into wine make men and women glad and merry and drive away all sadness, dullness and melancholy, as Dioscorides and Pliny affirm. Syrup made of the flowers of Borage comfort the heart, purge melancholy and quiet the frantic and lunatic person. The leaves eaten raw engender good blood, especially in those that have been lately sick.

The Celtic name ‘burrach’ meant ‘glad courage’ .

Modern research indicates that borage can stimulate adrenaline production, which helps to lift you up. People who suffer from depression have been found to experience a dramatic drop in adrenaline.

Borage has also been shown to be the richest known plant source of gamma linoleic acid (GLA), an omega-6 polyunsaturated, essential fatty acid. Borage oil is available in capsule form and often marketed as a GLA supplement. Recent research has shown that GLA is active against various cancers, including brain, prostate and breast. GLA inhibits the spread of malignant tumours by restricting blood vessel growth.

Floral Morphology: Borago officinalis

Borage has actinomorphic (radially symmetrical), perfect (bisexual) flowers.

The flowers are typically bright blue, sometimes pink when young, and borne in scorpioid cymes.

Each flower has five fused petals forming a star shape and five sepals that are hairy and persistent.

The androecium consists of five stamens with dark purple to black anthers forming a cone around the style.

The gynoecium is composed of a superior ovary with a single style and bifid stigma.

Flowers are rich in nectar and highly attractive to pollinators.

Reproductive Biology

Borago officinalis reproduces sexually by seed.

It is entomophilous (insect-pollinated), relying mainly on bees, especially honeybees and bumblebees.

The flower structure promotes efficient pollen transfer during foraging. The species is generally self-fertile but benefits from cross-pollination, which increases seed set.

After fertilization, the ovary develops into four nutlets, each containing one seed.

Borage readily self-seeds, contributing to its persistence in cultivation and semi-natural habitats.