Echium pininana Webb & Berth. A short-lived shrub with a large rosette on a stout stalk, developing into a massive spike of bluish flowers, native of La Palma, growing at around 600m in laurel forests in the NE part of the island where it is very rare, flowering in April–July. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, rough, green. A spectacular plant for a mild garden and partial shade in hot areas. In the second or third spring a thick leafy stem elongates very quickly to form a tall spike carrying hundreds of small flowers, in pale blue or almost white. The whole plant then dies, and the small seeds, still attached to their papery calyces, are dispersed by the wind. This species is wild in laurel forests in La Palma, and is often seen in coastal gardens elsewhere. It is common on Tresco.
The hybrid between this species and E. wildpretii has rich purple flowers on a spike to around 3m.
Cultivation Easily grown in partial shade and shelter, in sandy soil.
Height to 4.5m (15ft); spread to 60cm (2ft). USZ 9–11, surviving -6.5°C (20°F) of overnight frost. Tolerant of summer drought.