Lungwort

It was a very beautiful day, sunny most of the time and I walked barefoot in the garden for the first time this spring which was a real pleasure. When HL got home from work it was still warm enough to sit on the terrace in the sun and drink tea. Very civilised even though it was 5.15, not 4 o clock...


Lungwort - Latin name Pulmonaria officinalis - is a member of the borage family.
From Wikipedia:
The scientific name Pulmonaria is derived from Latin pulmo (lung).[1] In the times of sympathetic magic, the spotted oval leaves of P. officinalis were thought to symbolize diseased, ulcerated lungs, and so were used to treat pulmonary infections. The common name in many languages also refers to lungs, as in English "lungwort" and German Lungenkraut. In some East European languages, the common name is derived from a word for honey, e.g. Russian medunitza and Polish miodunka.


This plant grows on the shady north side of the house. I caught it in the morning while it had a little sun on it; the bumble bees were going berserk around it and though I had hoped to get a good macro of a bee on the flower, this was the best I could manage as they did not want to sit still...