Echium boissieri Steud.
Diagnostic description:
A tall, densely bristly biennial, from 1 to 2.5 m tall. Not or rarely branching. Basal leaves are bristly-hairy, up to 35 cm long, narrowly elliptical to lanceolate, forming a rosette. The upper ones are smaller and narrower. Flowers flesh-coloured, hairy, 1.5 to 2 cm across, in a long dense spike, taking up over half the stem. Stamens 4 to 5, projecting from the corolla. Nutlets 3 to 3.5 mm long, tuberculate.
Distribution:
Local: Very rare in Gibraltar. Found on rocky ledges and from crevices on the cliffs above Mediterranean Steps.
Global: Found in south Spain, Portugal and north Africa.
Ecology:
Flowers from April to May (June).