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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Terrestrial Invasives
  3. Terrestrial Plants
  4. Houndstongue

Houndstongue

Scientific Name

Cynoglossum officinale L. (ITIS)

Common Name

Houndstongue, Hounds tongue, gypsy flower, rats and mice, dog bur

Native To

Eurasia (Kedzie-Webb and Sheley 2017)

Date of U.S. Introduction

First discovered in 1893 (Kedzie-Webb and Sheley 2017)

Means of Introduction

Introduced accidentally through contaminated seed (Kedzie-Webb and Sheley 2017)

Impact

Infests pasture and rangeland, where it is toxic to livestock (Kedzie-Webb and Sheley 2017)

Houndstongue

Houndstongue, flowers

Credit

Photo by Mary Ellen (Mel) Harte

Source
Invasive.org.

Find more images

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

View All Houndstongue Resources
Council or Task Force

  • Fact Sheet: Hound's Tongue [PDF | 700 KB]

    • Jan 2014

    • Alberta Invasive Species Council (Canada).

    • See also: Fact Sheets for more information about individual invasive species, including those listed as "Prohibited Noxious" and "Noxious" under the Alberta Weed Control Act

Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations