A blue Borago officinalis flower has five pointed petals, dark purple anthers, and hairy reddish sepals

Borago officinalis (Starflower)

Native to the western and central Mediterranean, this annual herb grows about 2 to 3 feet tall. Its stems and wrinkled leaves are covered with stiff hairs. The star-shaped flowers are blue or occasionally white, and the plant readily self-seeds. Its cucumber-flavored leaves and flowers have culinary uses, but the leaves contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can damage the liver. It has escaped gardens and become naturalized in parts of Australia. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.

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A white Borago officinalis flower has five pointed petals, a brown anther cone, and hairy green sepals

A tilted blue Borago officinalis flower has dark purple anthers beside hairy stems and buds

Two blue Borago officinalis flowers have dark central anther cones and hairy green calyxes

Two blue Borago officinalis flowers hang from curved pink stalks covered with white hairs

The back of a blue Borago officinalis flower shows pointed reddish sepals covered with white hairs

White Borago officinalis flowers with brown anther cones cluster above a broad wrinkled leaf

A Borago officinalis plant has broad wrinkled leaves and branched hairy stems bearing blue and pink flowers

Numerous white Borago officinalis flowers hang above hairy green stems and wrinkled leaves