Angela Jane Swinn-Comerford,
Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation Newsletter 16/11/2018
Viper’s bugloss, or Snake’s Tongue, is the name of Pyramid Valley’s Botanicals Collection wine from our Mānatu Vineyard in Lowburn, Central Otago. The label bears a unique original artwork celebrating this beautiful, purplish-blue flowered plant.
Viper’s bugloss, Echium vulgare, is commonly known as blue borage throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Viper’s bugloss is its global common name, with ‘viper’ referring to its spotted stem, said to resemble a snake’s markings, or from the shape of its flowers, which look like the head of a snake; and ‘bugloss’ meaning ox’s tongue, referring to the rough, tongue-shaped leaves. My auntie cultivated it in the dry, stony corners of her beautiful rural Southland garden and always referred to it as Snake’s Tongue, a somewhat colloquial translation of its common name. Central Otago was her holiday destination, and blue borage is endemic in our Mānatu vineyard, where it is found in the dry riverbeds, terraces and headlands adjacent to a very special parcel of Pinot Noir. It seemed entirely appropriate to call our Botanicals Collection wine Snake’s Tongue, and celebrate Echium vulgare on the label.
While my auntie cultivated it for its spectacular spikes of vivid blue flowers, in most parts of the world it roams wild. A native to most of Europe and western and central Asia, Snake’s Tongue / Viper’s bugloss, was deliberately imported into New Zealand in 1870 as an ornamental plant. It is now widespread in the drier, low fertility parts of the South Island and the east coast of the North Island. It is an annual or biennial, a member of the Boriginaceae family and locked into the structural class of a herb. It is classified as a weed in our agricultural lands, and is in fact toxic to sheep, horses and cattle through the accumulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the liver.
Bees of all walks of life, and nectar-loving insects, moths, butterflies and hummingbirds have no such problem. They love these flowers! Viper’s bugloss is known as one of the world’s top tier honey plants. Artist and writer Angela Jane from above shares a story of “having filmed Small Elephant Hawk moths doing an aerial ballet whilst feeding on its nectar in the dimsy dark. Silver-Y moths also partook of the Bugloss ballet.” One suspects she may have an allotment! In fact, in 2016 a new species of bee in Britain, Hopilitis adunca, was given the common name Viper’s Bugloss Mason Bee, with a nod to its preferred flowers.
The human history also brings us some gems. Honey of course has been front and centre, with the plant producing large volumes of light amber, lemon-infused, high fructose honey due to the accommodating structure of the flowers. Don’t over indulge on the honey though, it contains those alkaloids. So, like the wine, consume in moderation. The plant itself is a bit prickly so can give your skin a bit of a scratch, however even the 1st century physician, Dioscorides, used it as a remedy for a viper’s bite.
Steve Smith MW
Founder and Estate Director
Pyramid Valley, Smith & Sheth, Lowburn Ferry
Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates.
October 2024 celebrates the launch of the second vintage of the Pyramid Valley Snake’s Tongue Pinot Noir, from the spectacular 2022 vintage. For a story of the wine and availability click here.