How a healing wildflower has mutated into a 'magic broom'

A plant discovered by tourists has made it into a botanical dictionary.

The stem of the mutated viper's bugloss is 26 centimetres in width.The stem of the mutated viper's bugloss is 26 centimetres in width. (Source: Martin Šimovec)

During a usual walk along a field, a plant whose unusually huge stem was 26 centimetres wide at the top caught the eyes of a group of tourists in the Trenčín Region.

Fascinated by the mysterious plant and unable to identify it, they turned to botanists for help in finding out its name. In addition to confirming that their find was an extraordinary phenomenon, botanists told them the plant’s name was viper’s bugloss – a hairy species with dense spikes of blue flowers that can grow up to 80 centimetres.

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