Large-leaved Brunnera

Family Boraginaceae. It occurs in the Caucasus mountains. The Germans call it "Caucasian forget-me-not" (Kaukasus - Vergipmeinnicht).

Grows as a spreading clump, from a thick and long rhizome of which several branched stems up to 30 cm high arise, reaching 40 cm by the end of flowering. Stems are rough-hairy, leafy. Leaves are few, oblong, basal on long petioles, cordate with an acute apex, dark green above, grayish and rough from pubescence beneath, up to 25 cm long. Flowers up to 0.7 cm in diameter, in terminal, paniculate-corymbose inflorescences, dark blue with a white spot in the center, outwardly similar to forget-me-not flowers, but forget-me-not flowers, unlike them, have a yellow "eye". Flowering begins in late April - early May and lasts about a month. In a warm, prolonged autumn it may bloom a second time.

Fruit dry, splitting into four wrinkled nutlets. Seeds ripen in late June - July (black, small, few). The plant is hardy to -29 °C. Known in cultivation since the early 19th century, when Russia began exploration of the Caucasus and the first botanical expeditions were sent there. Brunnera macrophylla is a true perennial. The clump can exist without transplanting or division for 10-15 years. Planted in shade, on loose soil, it is ornamental from late April (leaf emergence) until the first frosts, when the leaves die back. Young leaves appear throughout the season, which gives the Brunnera clump an always fresh, attractive appearance.