Pulmonaria longifolia, (Narrow-leaved Lungwort) is a semi-evergreen clump-forming herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 perennial plant

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

, native to western Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, including Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. It grows in semi-shaded habitats, such as woodland and scrub, often on rather heavy clay soils, to 2000 m above sea level.

The stems are upright, 20-40 cm (rarely to 60 cm), not scaly at base, covered with bristly and some glandular hairs. The basal leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are up to 40-60 cm long and 6 cm wide, narrowly lanceolate, gradually narrowed into a stalk, upper surface usually spotted white or pale green. The stem leaves are lanceolate or oval-lanceolate, stalkless, half-clasping the stem.

The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are funnel-shaped, carried in short hairy cyme

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s in spring. The corolla is 8-12 mm long, pink turning blue or violet. The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a nutlet

Nutlet

Nutlet may refer to one of the following.*A small nut.*In botany, a nutlet is a pyrena or pyrene, which is a seed covered by a stony layer, such as the kernel of a drupe....

 to 4 mm long and 3 mm broad. Chromosomes 2n=14.

Three subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 have been described, but are not accepted as distinct by the Flora Europaea.

In the New Forest

New Forest

The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, P. longifolia shares its habitat with wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Narcissus pseudonarcissus is a perennial flowering plant which grows from a bulb. It has pale yellow flowers with a darker central trumpet...

), bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), bastard balm (Melittis melissophyllum

Melittis melissophyllum

Melittis melissophyllum, common name: the Bastard Balm, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the genus Melittis of the Lamiaceae family. The name melittis of the genus derives from a Greek words Melissa or Melitta, meaning "honey bee" and refers to the properties of flowers of attracting...

), wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa

Anemone nemorosa

Anemone nemorosa is an early-spring flowering plant in the genus Anemone in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe. Common names include wood anemone, windflower, thimbleweed and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves...

), columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris

Aquilegia vulgaris

Aquilegia vulgaris is a species of columbine native to Europe.- Description :It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.2 m tall, with branched, thinly hairy stems...

).

Cultivation

In the garden, P. longifolia is hardy to hardiness zone

Hardiness zone

A hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone...

 5. It prefers light shade but tolerates sun better than most pulmonarias, and will not do well in heavy shade. Can be grown on very heavy clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

 soil.

The following cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s are available:

• 'Ankum' (syn. 'Coen Jansen') - a compact mound-forming plant with small, bright violet-blue flowers, and narrow, very silvery leaves with wavy margins.
• 'Bertram Anderson' - with smallish vivid blue flowers, and long, narrow, silver-spotted leaves.
• 'Dordogne' - with blue flowers carried on upright stems, large lanceolate leaves, spotted silver-white.

Other Pulmonaria cultivars related to this species include 'Merlin', 'Roy Davidson', 'Weetwood Blue'.