Echium wildprettii seeds grow into the tower of jewels or Mount Teide bugloss one of the most spectacular flowering plants in the world, a monocarpic biennial endemic to the subtropical biome of the Canary Islands. Named after Hermann Josef Wildpret (Swiss botanist who worked on Tenerife). Described by H. Pearson ex Hook.f. Produces a dense rosette of silvery-hairy leaves in year one; in year two sends up a single, colossal, cone-shaped flower spike to 24 m, densely covered in thousands of small pink-red flowers, then sets seed and dies. Two subspecies: subsp. wildprettii (Tenerife, Mt Teide, to 3400 m altitude) and subsp. trichosiphon (La Palma, Caldera de Taburiente). One of the most famous botanical sights in Europe the spring flowering at Teide is a tourist and botanical spectacle of world renown. Family Boraginaceae.

Full sun; very well-drained, poor, volcanic soils; warm subtropical to cool Canarian mountain conditions; frost-tolerant to moderate frost. Monocarpic biennial dies after flowering.

• Named after H.J. Wildpret (Swiss Tenerife botanist); H.Pearson ex Hook.f.; tower of jewels
• Flower spike to 4 m with thousands of pink-red flowers; monocarpic biennial dies after flowering
• Canary Islands (Tenerife Mt Teide, La Palma) subtropical biome; Teide spring display = world spectacle
• Genus Echium ~60 species; Family Boraginaceae
• Full sun; volcanic soils; frost-tolerant; biennial monocarpic; Family Boraginaceae

Echium wildprettii is the tower of jewels one of the most breathtaking flowering plants on Earth, its colossal cone of thousands of pink-red flowers towering above the volcanic landscape of Mount Teide creating one of the great botanical spectacles of Europe, a monocarpic biennial that invests all its energy in a single magnificent flowering event visible from far across the Tenerife landscape.

IMPORTANT: Pictures show the adult plant, which is not for sale. The offer is only for seeds.