Importance

Native to North America, and member of the Borage family. Named fiddleneck as the way the flowering stem curls over the top suggests the head of a violin (see picture 4). Plants can grow to a height of 90 cms. Found in East Anglia particularly in spring sown crops such as sugar beet.

1. Very distinctive bi-lobed cotyledons.

2. Leaves stiffly hairy, lanceolate 4–5 cms long and 1 cm wide.

3. Small yellow flowers 2 mm wide and 3 mm in length. The flowers have 5 petals fused at the base.

4. Flowering stem shaped like the head of a violin (hence 'fiddleneck').

5. Dense population in a sugar beet crop.