A plant of the borage family with small blue or purple flowers, native to the Mediterranean and used as an ornamental.
From Greek 'bous' (ox) plus 'glossa' (tongue), literally meaning 'ox-tongue'—named for the rough texture of its leaves that resembles a rough animal tongue.
The Greeks named this plant 'ox-tongue' because its leaves are bristly and rough—ancient plant naming often just described what things looked like, making botanical names delightfully literal and weird.
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