Common Lungwort

Pulmonaria officinalis

This perennial produces one of the first shows of flowers in early spring, and is an important source of early nectar for bees. The bell-shaped flowers form in clumps and have five fine, tissue-like petals. The colours range from pink, violet to blueish. The evergreen leaves are heavily spotted and thought to look like lungs, hence its name. A fairly hairy plant.

It flowers from March to May. Found in damp woodland and hedge banks in semi-shade. An introduced species from continental Europe, it is commonly grown in gardens and is widely naturalised throughout the British Isles, although rare in Ireland and the far north of Scotland.

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March 2017, except for leaf May 2012, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2012 and 2017.