RED LUNGWORT

Pulmonaria rubra

Borage Family [Boraginaceae]

month8mar month8march month8apr month8april month8may

status
statusZneophyte		 flower
flower8red		 inner
inner8cream		 morph
morph8actino		 petals
petalsZ5		 stem
stem8round

5th March 2018, nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker
It is a garden flower which occasionally establishes itself in the wild, as here, where numerous specimens abound. If other species of Lungwort are nearby then Red Lungwort will be hybridised away.


19th May 2018, nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker
The flowers are redder than those of the more common Lungwort and never blue (although purple blemishes develop on the petals where injury or decay is starting). Also, the leaves are (usually) unspotted. Lungworts lacking spotted leaves are Mawson's Lungwort and the much rarer Suffolk Lungwort. [Lungworts which have spotted leaves are Lungwort and Narrow-Leaved Lungwort].


19th May 2018, nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker
The stems are erect and up to 50cm. The basal leaves are ovate to narrow-ovate and either rounded or gradually tapering at their base.


5th March 2018, nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker
The red anthocyanins on the corolla decaying and transforming to blue/purple where damage has been incurred.


5th March 2018, nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker
Corolla is red when the flowers are open and is flared tubular with 5 short rounded petals at the end. Five anthers lurk in the depths. The calyx teeth are acute


nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker


nr upland farm, New Mills, Derbys. Photo: © Sue Walker
A characteristic feature is the long white hairs on the sepal cups. Some hairs are long but the more numerous are of a shorter population about a third as long as the long ones. Both types emanate from a globular gland on the sepal.

Usually a garden escapee.

Could be mistaken for : a Comfrey (species of Symphytum, which are in the same Borage Family Boraginaceae)

Hybridizes with : other Lungworts (when the red will be hybridised out).

See captions for identifying features.

  Pulmonaria rubra  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Boraginaceae  

Distribution
family8Borage family8Boraginaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Pulmonaria
Pulmonaria
(Lungworts)

RED LUNGWORT

Pulmonaria rubra

Borage Family [Boraginaceae]