Pulmonaria 'MISS ELLY' lungwort

Pulmonaria

The genus Pulmonaria was described by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) in 1753 and includes species native to Europe and western Asia, stretching naturally from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus. Today the genus comprises around sixteen species, each with its own character: Pulmonaria officinalis with its firm green leaves, P. longifolia described by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778–1841) with long, narrow blades, P. rubra identified by F. A. Marschall von Bieberstein (1768–1826) with unusually red flowers, and P. saccharata, treated scientifically by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (1739–1810), with its distinctive “sugared” spotting. A shared hallmark of the genus is its early spring flowering and the curious ability of the blooms to shift from pink to blue depending on the chemistry of the nectar – a small botanical trick often noticed even by casual gardeners.

Among all species, Pulmonaria officinalis holds a special place. It became a traditional European medicinal herb, appearing in herbals as early as the Middle Ages. People believed that its spotted leaves resembled diseased lungs and therefore helped with coughs, fevers and “inner chills”. Although this symbolism was more imaginative than scientific, the plant does contain mucilaginous compounds and tannins that soothe irritated mucous membranes. For that reason, it was used for coughs and colds, and in folk medicine it retained its reputation as a lung remedy well into the twentieth century. It grows naturally in deciduous woodlands from France to Ukraine, often in partial shade and moist soils, and its resilience made it one of the most important parent species for later breeding.

Modern hybridisation of pulmonarias began only at the end of the twentieth century, when breeders set out to elevate the genus from modest medicinal herb to a fully-fledged garden perennial for shade and semi‑shade. In the 1990s, Alan Bloom (1906–2005) of Blooms of Bressingham in Britain and American breeder Dan Heims of Terra Nova Nurseries began crossing P. saccharata, P. officinalis, P. longifolia and P. rubra. Their aim was to produce plants with stronger leaf markings, longer flowering and, above all, greater resistance to powdery mildew, which plagued older cultivars. The result is today’s hybrids with leaves reminiscent of an artist’s canvas, compact growth, a longer season of foliage and the reliability that has made them staples of mixed borders. And as an intriguing side effect of these crosses, many modern cultivars also show a more stable flower colour, with the classic shift from pink to blue far less pronounced than in the original species.