Of Viper’s-bugloss (Echium vulgare), Richard Mabey writes in Flora Britannica:
[It] is a viperish plant in all its parts. The sprays of flowers that spiral up the stem are half-coiled; the long red stamens protrude from the mouths of the blue and purple flowers like tongues; the fruits resemble adders’ heads. Even the ‘speckled’ stem (it is hairy in fact) suggested snakes’ skins to early herbalists.
And like all members of the Echium family, this glorious plant is much loved and visited by insects, especially (from my own observations) bumblebees.
earthstar 
This is one of my favourite plants. It grew near where I lived in Dorset but I’ve not seen it since. Have never previously made sense of the name but it has glorious colours and, for me, along with chicory, spells ‘summer’.
On another matter – a few weeks ago I came across a patch of the remains of earthstars. I’d not met them in ‘real life’ before but had always wanted to see them. Now I know where they are likely to be I’ll go there specially a little earlier next year before they have fallen apart and desiccated.
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Well done on finding the earthstars, Lucy. Yes, they tend to come up in the same area every year so you stand a good chance of seeing them. Fingers crossed!
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The exciting name does it for me. There was quite a few plants growing on the uncut verges in Ferry Road.
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And that’s precisely where these photos were taken, Dave. The wildflowers bordering the little park have been magnificent this year. 😍
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