Species
+

Borago officinalis L.

Beebread, Beeplant, Borage, Boražina

Climate known 80 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Borage, also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae native to the Mediterranean region. Although the plant contains small amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, some parts are edible and its seeds provide oil.

Text from Wikipedia, “Borage”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Borago

Borago, or borage, is a genus of five species of herbs native to the Mediterranean, with one species, Borago officinalis, cultivated and naturalized throughout the world.

Text from Wikipedia, “Borago”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Boraginaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Baleares, Corse, France +12
Wild records
682 in range· 85 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jul, mean day; nights 19 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
722mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Dec 104 mm (CHELSA)
Light
12–47DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, September to February and April in the northern hemisphere (September to February and April at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 722 mm a year, wettest December at 104 mm, driest July at 13 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 47 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 0.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Borago advena Gilib.; Borago aspera Gilib.; Borago hortensis L.; Borago officinalis var. alba Gray; Borago officinalis var. coerulea Alef. and 6 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, September to February and April in the northern hemisphere (September to February and April at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (551 mm of 722 mm) falls in September to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 13.4 °C against a yearly mean of 15.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 722 mm a year, wettest December at 104 mm, driest July at 13 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

722 mm a year at the habitat, 551 mm of it September to February and April. Wettest month December at 104 mm, driest July at 13 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 546 mm to 1078 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 47 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 47 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 7, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 0.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 0.7 °C, the absolute minimum -2.8 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 5.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 1.0 °C to 10.3 °C), warmest day 27.2 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 12 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Jul; mean night from 6 °C in Jan to 20 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 722 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 505 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -2.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost36.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-2.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 12–47RH 58–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 505 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C12 / 7–1513 / 8–1615 / 11–1817 / 14–2020 / 17–2324 / 20–2827 / 22–3127 / 22–3124 / 20–2720 / 16–2316 / 11–1913 / 8–16
Night °C6 / 1–106 / 1–118 / 3–1210 / 6–1313 / 9–1617 / 12–1919 / 15–2220 / 15–2317 / 12–2114 / 9–1810 / 5–147 / 2–12
Rain mm75 / 46–11860 / 40–9654 / 37–8562 / 44–10151 / 24–8529 / 7–7013 / 2–5724 / 4–6965 / 27–9886 / 66–13199 / 61–143104 / 52–156
DLI14 / 9–1720 / 14–2329 / 22–3236 / 30–4042 / 35–4546 / 38–5047 / 38–5141 / 33–4531 / 25–3622 / 16–2615 / 10–1812 / 7–15
RH %61 / 58–6660 / 58–6460 / 56–6259 / 56–6259 / 55–6358 / 53–6458 / 51–6459 / 53–6460 / 55–6361 / 58–6461 / 59–6561 / 59–66

Each figure is the median across the 505 grid cells holding the 668 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1010:3429 (39.475, -8.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 505 distinct grid cells holding the 668 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1010:3429 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-8.750, lapse-corrected -75 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 55 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBaleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Altay, Buryatiya, Irkutsk, West Siberia, Kamchatka, Kuril Is., Primorye, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Turkey, Inner Mongolia, Jawa, Tasmania, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Tubuai Is., Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Utah, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Uruguay
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker37.058, -7.747 · in the densest population, 269 records (39% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 682 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 85 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 994 km away. 167 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 14 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 682 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Borago officinalisBorago officinalisBorago officinalisBorago officinalisBorago officinalisBorago officinalisBorago officinalisBorago officinalis

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Dino Babić, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Lukas Krug, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Borago officinalis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Review of Anti-Inflammatory Herbal Medicines
Mona Ghasemian, Sina Owlia, Mohammad Bagher Owlia (2016) · Advances in Pharmacological Sciences
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Herbs with Special Emphasis on Herbal Medicines for Countering Inflammatory Diseases and Disorders - A Review
Mohd. Iqbal Yatoo, A. Gopalakrishnan, Archana Saxena, Oveas Rafiq Parray (2018) · Recent Patents on Inflammation & Allergy Drug Discovery
The chemical composition, botanical characteristic and biological activities of Borago officinalis: a review
Majid Asadi-Samani, Mahmoud Bahmani, Mahmoud Rafieian‐Kopaei (2014) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine
The importance of a taste. A comparative study on wild food plant consumption in twenty-one local communities in Italy
Maria Pia Ghirardini, Marco Carli, Nicola del Vecchio, Ariele Rovati (2007) · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Temperature and water stress affect plant–pollinator interactions in Borago officinalis (Boraginaceae)
Charlotte Descamps, Muriel Quinet, Aurélie Baijot, Anne‐Laure Jacquemart (2018) · Ecology and Evolution
Comparison of some secondary metabolite content in the seventeen species of the Boraginaceae family
Sławomir Dresler, Grażyna Szymczak, Małgorzata Wójcik (2017) · Pharmaceutical Biology
Green and rapid synthesis of silver nanoparticles usingBorago officinalisleaf extract: anticancer and antibacterial activities
Hina Singh, Juan Du, Tae‐Hoo Yi (2016) · Artificial Cells Nanomedicine and Biotechnology
Pharmacological basis for the use of Borago officinalis in gastrointestinal, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders
Anwarul Hassan Gilani, Samra Bashir, Arif‐ullah Khan (2007) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
The detection of radical scavenging compounds in crude extract of borage (Borago officinalis L.) by using an on-line HPLC-DPPH method
Donata Bandonien≐, Michael Murkovic (2002) · Journal of Biochemical and Biophysical Methods

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 9 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.