looduskalender.ee

Common lungwort

 

Common lungwort    Harilik kopsurohi    Pulmonaria officinalis

 

A sunny day in South Estonia and Kütioru. The lungworts flower early but the Hepaticas were still in bud. In the Vaida area the colt’s-foot flowered already last week. Small tortoiseshell and brimstone butterflies flew around …

 

The lungwort is a plant on fertile soils in broadleaf and mixed forests. Usually it flowers at the same time as the Hepatica or liverwort.

 

The just opened flowers are pink, slowly turning purple, sometimes crimson red. On aging the flowers fade into pale blue.

 

This early flowerer is of course a perennial plant, with a creeping and well branched rhizome. From its buds the above-ground stems grow up. Already when the snow melts the flower buds can be discerned if the habitats of the lungwort are known.