A plant, known as “borage” [pronounced “bor” “age”], and also known as the “star flower,” is a robust herb, native to the Mediterranean region. It is now well established in Europe and the USA. Two planters in my Southern California front yard are home to several robust concentrations of this interesting plant. The largest concentration reaches a height of 49 inches.
The classification of this plant is:
Kingdom Plantae
Order Boraginales
Family Boraginacae
Genus Borago (pronounced bor-age)
Species B. officinalis
Borago officinalis remains in the garden from year to year via self-seeding (thus this plant is not a perennial). Gardeners like this plant because it repels mosquitos (Wikipedia, 2025).
This plant typically has small “star-shaped” blue flowers, but less genetically dominant varieties of this plant can have red and blue, red, purple, or even white (with a red center) flowers (Wikipedia, 2025).
Based on associated fossil-land snails and non-marine microfossil plants, the geologic history of Borago dates back to the lower to middle Eocene. These earliest known fossils are found in northern Africa (i.e., southwestern Algeria), according (Hammonuda et al. (2015).
Diagnostic features of borage (see images below) include its: numerous druppy branches with grayish purple stems. Also, Some of the ends of these stems bear small, blue-shaped flowers with black stamens at their center. Before the flowers bloom, however, the ends of the stems have a bell-shape and a spiky tip, which eventually erupts into a flower at the end of the branches. The leaves of this plant can be relatively large (up to 6 inches long). The tops of the leaves are textured and have minute spikes. The bottoms of the leaves have prominent veins. Additionally, the bottom of a leaf is more coarsely spiked than is the upper surface.
Figure 1. A clump of druppy branches (field of view 9 inches):
Figure 2. Closeup of druppy branches (field of view 6 inches):
Figure 3. Blue miniflowers (field of view 3 inches:.
Figure 4. Closeup of a single blue miniflower (approximately one-half inch diameter).
Figure 5. Front side of a cluster of leaves (field of view 5 inches):
Figure 6. Length of a portion (3 inches long) of the bottom side of a leaf:
Referencs Cited:
Hammonda, S.A. and six others. 2015. Fossil nutlets of Boraginaceae are from the continental Eocene of Hamada of Meridja (southwestern Algeria). The first fossil of the Borage family in Aftica. American Journal of Botany 102(12):2108-2115. [Free pdf that is readily available online].
Wikipedia. 2025.
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