Omphalodes cappadocica

Our plant of Omphalodes cappadocica was collected as seed by the late Douglas Henderson, Regius Keeper of the Garden from 1970 until his retirement in 1987. The twelfth in a long line of eminent academics to have held this Royal appointment since 1670. It was during a visit to Turkey in 1961 that seeds of this “Navelwort” were collected near the town of Pazar on the Black Sea coast.

An evergreen rhizomatous perennial that covers ground in shade or semi shaded situations. Growing in the rock garden in dense shade beneath a coniferous canopy it is now pushing up masses of clear blue flowers on terminal cymes. Juniperus rigida is providing shelter from heavy rain which O. cappadocica dislikes and when subjected to will die out.

In the family Boraginaceae it has large leaves covering the ground which shrivel brown as new growth is produced from late March onwards.