Anchusa azurea is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, known by the common names garden anchusa and Italian bugloss (or just "bugloss"). It is a bristly perennial which reaches just over half a meter in height. It has straight lance-shaped leaves and petite tubular flowers of bright violet-blue. This species is native to Europe and western Asia and eastern Maghreb but is well-known elsewhere as a noxious weed. In Crete it is called agoglossos (Greek: αγόγλωσσος) and the locals eat the tender stems boiled, steamed or fried. * *