Three Beautiful Blue Spring Wild Flowers In the Touraine Loire Valley

These lovely and uncommon wild flowers were all photographed on the Eperon du Murat nature reserve near Ferriere-Larcon on 13 May 2023.

Upright Bugle Ajuga genevensis (Fr. Bugle de Geneve).

Upright Bugle is probably often mistaken for Bugle A. reptans as it resembles it closely, they hybridise readily and A. reptans is much more abundant and well known. If you see a bugle in an open sunny grassy environment with a brighter lighter blue flower that is your clue that you might have Upright Bugle. Check the stems, which like all plants in the mint family, are square in section. If they are hairy on all four sides then you have Upright Bugle. The species likes dry sunny sites with poor calcareous or neutral soil. The flowers produce lots of nectar and are very attractive to Honey Bees Apis mellifera (Fr. Abeilles des ruches).

Veronica orsiniana (Fr. Véronique d'Orsini). Probably.

This speedwell is not considered threatened, but it is in decline, and uncommon enough in the Touraine that if it is present on a site it can be declared a Zone Naturel d'Interet Ecologique, Faunistique et Floristique (ZNIEFF). Native to southern Europe, it likes hot dry short grassland and woodland edges on poor calcareous soil.

Basil Thyme Clinopodium acinos (Fr. Calament des champs).

This is an annual or biannual, in the mint family. The leaves are hairy and the flowers are usually pink or mauve but sometimes they are more violet like the ones in the photos, and they often have a white patch on the lower lip.

The species likes uncultivated reasonably warm dry calcareous sites that are mowed annually. You can find it in short grassland, fields and fallow land.