Língua-de-Vaca (Echium hypertropicum)

Shrub up to 2.5 m, highly branched, with woody stems. Leaves are broadly lanceolate, up to 20 cm long and 5 cm wide, dark green or greyish-green and hairy to the touch. Inflorescence ovoid, with numerous whitish, pink or more rarely bluish flowers. Native to Cape Verde and only present on Santiago and Brava, where it is rather rare. It grows from 200 to 1,100 m, especially between 500 and 900 m, in subhumid zones, generally in rocky areas. Due to low numbers of locations and specimens and because it is collected for firewood by the local population, it is considered highly threatened and has been classified as an endangered species.