[Hound's Tongues: The Genus Cynoglossum East of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]

Common Hound's Tongue, Gypsy-flower, Hound's Tongue

Cynoglossum officinale

Common Hound's Tongue, Gypsy-flower, Hound's Tongue: Cynoglossum officinale

The photo at right shows a close-up frontal view of a flower of common hound's tongue as seen along the lower sections of Hat Pt. Road in the Hells Canyon NRA of northeastern Oregon.........June 28, 2007.
Common Hound's Tongue, Gypsy-flower, Hound's Tongue: Cynoglossum officinale The photo at right shows a close-up sideview of the inflorescence of common hound's tongue as seen along the lower sections of Hat Pt. Road in the Hells Canyon NRA of northeastern Oregon.........June 28, 2007. Note the numerous grayish hairs covering the outer surface of the calyx and pedicels.
Characteristics:

Common hound's tongue is a weedy biennial species with stout, leafy stems from 40-120 cm high. The herbage consists of velvety hairs. The leaves are 8-20 cm long with the lower leaves slender-petioled with oblong to oblanceolate blades that taper gradually to the petiole while the upper leaves are sessile with clasping bases and lance-oblong blades.

The numerous racemes extend from the upper leaf axils. The pedicels are 5-10 mm long. The calyx lobes are 5-7 mm long in fruit and oblong in outline with obtuse tips. The corollas are reddish-purple with the tube about 4-6 mm long and the spreading lobes of the limb about 1 cm wide.

Habitat:

Common hound's tongue is a weedy species of disturbed sites, especially along roadsides.

Range:

Common hound's tongue is a native of Europe which has become established in North America. In Oregon it is found in cultivated and waste ground to the west of the Cascades, in several areas of the Columbia River Gorge and in Umatilla and Wallowa Counties of northeastern Oregon.

Common Hound's Tongue, Gypsy-flower, Hound's Tongue: Cynoglossum officinale

The photo above shows a close-up of the nutlets of common hound's tongue as seen along Hat Pt. Road.........June 28, 2007. Not redailiy visible here, the upper surface of each nutlet is flattened with a raised margin and covered with numerous short, stout prickles.

Common Hound's Tongue, Gypsy-flower, Hound's Tongue: Cynoglossum officinale - Common Hound's Tongue, Gypsy-flower, Hound's Tongue: Cynoglossum officinale

The photo at left shows common hound's tongue as seen along the lower sections of Hat Pt. Road in the Hells Canyon NRA of northeastern Oregon.........June 28, 2007. The photo at right shows common hound's tongue as seen along spur road 160 about one-quarter of a mile uphill from the junction with Forest Road 41, Umatilla National Forest.....June 17, 2023.
Paul Slichter