Borage is a Mediterranean plant, from the Family Boraginaceae, which has naturalised in Britain. It has been used medicinally since at least the time of Dioscorides (70AD) who recommended the leaves in wine for fevers and to ‘cause mirth’. This belief persisted into the 16th and 17th centuries in the writings of all the herbalists from Fuchs (1542) to Culpeper (1649 and later). Fuchs wrote that the flowers and leaves put in wine ‘will cause men to be glad and merry, and driveth away all heavy sadness and melancholy’. By the end of the 17th century it had fallen out of use although the flowers and leaves were still added to alcoholic drinks (Pimms) until the end of the 20th century.
The discovery of gamma-linoleic acid in the oil from the seeds, resulted in commercial production as a substitute source to the seeds of the Evening Primrose, Oenothera sp. It was the discovery of hepatotoxic unsaturated pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the leaves of Borage that led the Medicines Control Agency (UK report, 2002) to advise against internal use, and it is no longer added to summer drinks. The historic confusion of Borago, Echium, Symphytum, Cynoglossum and Anchusa, all from the Boraginaceae and all called Bugloss or Buglossum at some time, relates to their structural similarities. They all contain pyrrolizidines responsible for causing hepato-occlusive disease which produces cirrhosis, jaundice and (occasionally) death. Pyrrolizidines are alkalating compounds which modify DNA bases. These, if not repaired, can cause cancers and genetic malformations.
It is an annual and propagates from seeds. Honey from bees foraging in fields containing Borago can contain pyrrolizidines.
