Echium wildpretii is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae. It is an herbaceous biennial plant that grows up to 3 m (10 ft) in height. The species is endemic to the Canary Islands, and is found mainly in the national park surrounding Mount Teide in Tenerife. The subspecies E. wildpretii subsp. trichosiphon occurs at high altitudes on the island of La Palma. The common names are tower of jewels, red bugloss, Tenerife bugloss or Mount Teide bugloss.^[1]

Quick Facts Echium wildpretii, Scientific classification ...

Echium wildpretii
Echium wildpretii on Tenerife
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Boraginales
Family:	Boraginaceae
Genus:	Echium
Species:	E. wildpretii
Binomial name
Echium wildpretii H.Pearson ex Hook.f.

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The Latin specific epithet wildpretii honours the 19th century Swiss botanist Hermann Josef Wildpret.^[2]

It is a biennial, producing a dense rosette of leaves during the first year, flowers in the second year, and then dies. The red flowers are borne on an erect inflorescence, 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in). The plant blooms from late spring to early summer in Tenerife.

The plant grows in the subalpine zone of the ravines of Mount Teide, a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. It requires a lot of sun and is found in arid and dry conditions, but it tolerates frost down to −5 °C (23 °F). As a sub-alpine endemic plant with a narrow climatic niche and small distribution, the species is likely to be negatively impacted by climate change.^[3][4]

This plant can be found as a garden ornamental but is intolerant of low temperatures, thus some winter protection is required in frost-prone areas. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[5][6] As with most buglosses, it is favoured by bee-keepers for its high nectar content.

• Close-up of inflorescence
• Ssp. trichosiphon from La Palma