B. officinalis grows to a height of 60–100 centimetres (2–3+1⁄2 feet), and is bristly or hairy all over the stems and leaves; the leaves are alternate, simple, and 5–15 cm (2–6 inches) long.
The flowers are complete, perfect with five narrow, triangular-pointed petals. Flowers are most often blue, although pink flowers are sometimes observed. White-flowered types are also cultivated. The blue flower is genetically dominant over the white flower.[3]
The flowers arise along scorpioid cymes to form large floral displays with multiple flowers blooming simultaneously, suggesting that borage has a high degree of geitonogamy (intraplant pollination).[3]
It has an indeterminate growth habit, which may lead to prolific spreading. In temperate climates such as in the UK, its flowering season is relatively long, from June to September. In milder climates, borage blooms continuously for most of the year.
The oil is often marketed as "starflower oil" or "borage oil" for use as a GLA supplement, although healthy adults typically produce ample GLA from dietary linoleic acid.
It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales.[12] It grows satisfactorily in gardens in most of Europe, such as Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, remaining in the garden from year to year by self-seeding.
Toxicity
In addition to the liver-toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids found in the leaves and seed oil, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has advised that honey from borage contains PAs, transferred to the honey through pollen collected at borage plants, and advise that commercial honey production could select for raw honey with limited PA content to prevent contamination.[13]
Uses
A white-flower cultivarTwo blossoms: the younger one is pink, the older blue.
Traditionally, borage was cultivated for culinary and medicinal uses, although today, commercial cultivation is mainly as an oilseed.
Borage is used as either a fresh vegetable or a dried herb. As a fresh vegetable, borage, with a cucumber-like taste, is often used in salads or as a garnish.[14]
The flower has a sweet, honey-like taste and is often used to decorate desserts and cocktails,[14] sometimes frozen in ice cubes.[15]
Vegetable use of borage is common in Germany, in the Spanish regions of Aragón and Navarre, on the Greek island of Crete, and in the northern Italian region of Liguria.
Although often used in soups, one of the better known German borage recipes is the Frankfurt speciality grüne Soße ("green sauce").
In Liguria, Italy, borage (in Italian, borragine) is commonly used as a filling of the traditional pasta ravioli and pansoti.[16]
Francis Bacon thought that borage had "an excellent spirit to repress the fuliginous vapour of dusky melancholie".[30]
John Gerard's Herball mentions an old verse concerning the plant: "Ego Borago, Gaudia semper ago (I, Borage, bring always joys)". He asserts:
Those of our time do use the flowers in salads to exhilerate and make the mind glad. There be also many things made of these used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the mind. The leaves and flowers of Borage put into wine make men and women glad and merry and drive away all sadness, dullness and melancholy, as Dioscorides and Pliny affirm. Syrup made of the flowers of Borage comfort the heart, purge melancholy and quiet the frantic and lunatic person. The leaves eaten raw engender good blood, especially in those that have been lately sick.[30]
^Le Robert et Collins English-French Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary
^ abMontaner, C.; Floris, E.; Alvarez, J. M. (February 2001). "Geitonogamy: a mechanism responsible for high selfing rates in borage (Borago officinalis L.)". Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 102 (2–3): 375–378. doi:10.1007/s001220051656. S2CID26250534.
^Dodson, Craig D.; Stermitz, Frank R. (1986). "Pyrrolizidine alkaloids from borage (Borago officinalis) seeds and flowers". Journal of Natural Products. 49 (4): 727–728. doi:10.1021/np50046a045.
^Parvais, O.; Vander Stricht, B.; Vanhaelen-Fastre, R.; Vanhaelen, M. (1994). "TLC detection of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in oil extracted from the seeds of Borago officinalis". Journal of Planar Chromatography--Modern TLC. 7 (1): 80–82.
^Wretensjoe, Inger; Karlberg, Bo. (2003). "Pyrrolizidine alkaloid content in crude and processed borage oil from different processing stages". Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. 80 (10): 963–970. doi:10.1007/s11746-003-0804-z. S2CID94575246.
^Awang V. C. (1999). Eskinazi D. (ed.). The Information Base for safety assessment of Botanicals. ((cite book)): |work= ignored (help)
^Langer T.; Franz Ch. (1997). "Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in commercial samples of borage seed oil products by GC-MS". Scientia Pharmaceutica. 65 (4): 321–328.
^Gilani A.H., Bashir S., Khan A.-u. "Pharmacological basis for the use of Borago officinalis in gastrointestinal, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders", Journal of Ethnopharmacology 114 (3), pp 393–399, 2007.
^Gilani A.H. "Focused Conference Group: P16 - Natural products: Past and future? Pharmacological use of borago officinalis", Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology. Conference: 16th World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. WorldPharma 2010 Copenhagen Denmark. Publication: (var. pagings). 107 (pp. 301), 2010. Date of Publication: July 2010.
