Dear Diane, As I replied to John Grimshaw, I did not know of any echiums that were this height. Several species growing in California are over 6 feet. I looked up weeds in Australia just now and came across Echium plantagineum (Patterson's curse). I don't know it but it is desceribed as an 'Erect annual herb to 60 (rarely to 150) cm high'. I'm not disagreeing with you although the plants I saw were much lower than this. Maybe there is another, smaller species. Andrew From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Diane Whitehead My first thought was Echium, Patterson's Curse, which grows in such great swaths in Western Australia that it can probably be seen from space. I saw scattered plants of it in the Eastern Cape in January. I think if it had taken over fields there, then it would be well known to wildflower guides, but our two guides did not seem unduly disturbed by it. I warned them of what it had done in Australia. Diane Whitehead