About Pulmonaria longifolia (Bastard) Boreau
Pulmonaria longifolia, commonly known as the narrow-leaved lungwort, is a semi-evergreen, clump-forming herbaceous perennial plant. It is native to western Europe, including Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. It grows in semi-shaded habitats such as woodland and scrub, occurring up to 2000 m above sea level. Its stems are upright, growing 20–40 cm tall, and rarely reaching 60 cm. The stem base is not scaly, and the entire stem is covered in bristly hairs alongside some glandular hairs. Basal leaves grow up to 40–60 cm long and 6 cm wide; they are narrowly lanceolate, tapering gradually into a stalk, and the upper surface is usually spotted with white or pale green. Stem leaves are lanceolate or oval-lanceolate, stalkless, and half-clasp the stem. Its funnel-shaped flowers are borne in short hairy cymes during spring. The corolla measures 8–12 mm long, and starts pink before turning blue or violet. The fruit is a nutlet, reaching 4 mm long and 3 mm broad. The chromosome count for this species is 2n=14. Three subspecies have been described, but they are not accepted as distinct by the Flora Europaea. In the New Forest in England, P. longifolia shares its habitat with Narcissus pseudonarcissus (wild daffodil), Hyacinthoides non-scripta (bluebell), Oxalis acetosella (wood-sorrel), Melittis melissophyllum (bastard balm), Anemone nemorosa (wood anemone), and Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine). In garden cultivation, P. longifolia is hardy to hardiness zone 5. It prefers light shade, tolerates sun better than most other pulmonarias, and does not grow well in heavy shade. It can be grown on very heavy clay soil. The following cultivars of this species are available: 'Ankum' (synonym 'Coen Jansen') is a compact mound-forming plant with small, bright violet-blue flowers, and narrow, very silvery leaves with wavy margins. 'Bertram Anderson' has smallish vivid blue flowers, and long, narrow, silver-spotted leaves. 'Dordogne' produces blue flowers on upright stems, with large lanceolate silver-white spotted leaves. Other Pulmonaria cultivars related to this species include 'Merlin', 'Roy Davidson', and 'Weetwood Blue'.
