Spikes of blue-purple flowers rise from mats of glossy, bronze-tinged leaves that spread by leafy runners
Bugle — Ajuga reptans.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Bugle
Native · flowers in spring · damp woods, hedge banks and meadows
Ajuga reptans — Lamiaceae
Bugle is an evergreen, creeping member of the mint family that forms mats of dark, purple-tinged leaves from which upright spikes of blue flowers rise in spring. It runs by leafy runners through damp woods, hedge banks and meadows. Bumblebees love it, and it was once a standard herb for stopping bleeding.
How to spot them
- ▸Whorls of blue-violet, two-lipped flowers in an upright leafy spike, up to about 30 cm
- ▸Glossy, dark green (often bronzed or purple-flushed) leaves in a rosette, with long creeping, rooting runners
- ▸Square stem, as in all mint-family plants
- ▸Look-alike: selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) has flowers packed tighter at the top of the stem in a compact, egg-shaped head
- ▸Damp shady ground, hedge banks and meadows throughout the UK
How to know it
Its Latin epithet, meaning 'creeping', describes its runners
Ajuga reptans — bugle.
A traditional wound herb of the mint family, used to stop bleeding
Bugle.
Bumblebees are particularly fond of this creeping blue-flowered evergreen
Bugle.
The flowers are held loosely in whorls up the stem, unlike its look-alike selfheal, which packs them tightly at the top
Bugle.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Lamiaceae, the mint family
- •Plantlife: evergreen perennial spreading by long leafy runners; still common in its preferred habitats
- •reptans derives from the Latin repto, meaning creeping or crawling
- •Found in damp woods, hedge banks and meadows throughout the UK, and on lawns
- •Much loved by bumblebees
- •Popular ingredient in herbal remedies, particularly for stopping bleeding
- •Often confused with selfheal, in which the flowers are more tightly arranged at the top of the stem
- •Garden forms with bronze or variegated foliage are widely grown as ground cover
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Sources
- Plantlife — Bugle