The large, hairy leaves taste mildly of cucumber, and star-shaped purple-blue flowers are prized for their flavour.

The inflorescences are branched scorpioid cymes, i.e. subsequent flowers are oriented in a curve, as in the tail of the scorpion.

The flowers are star-shaped wheel or bell-shaped;[clarification needed] nectar is dispersed through a cone-shaped structure.

Throat scales are short, hairless, and emarginated, i.e. with a nick or notch at the apex, standing out from the crown.

Only B. officinalis is widely cultivated, and has become naturalized through much of the temperate world (e.g. Argentina, Canada, Chile, United States, Mexico, and Paraguay).

B. officinalis was once thought to be native to Syria, but it is probably of North African origin, where other Borago species occur.