Borage or starflower (Borago officinalis). Borage is a Mediterranean plant, from the Family Boraginaceae, which has naturalized in Britain. It has been used medicinally since at least the time of Dioscorides (70 AD) who recommended putting the leaves in wine to ease fevers and "cause mirth." This belief persisted into the 16th and 17th centuries in the writings of all the herbalists from Fuchs (1542) to Culpeper (1649 and later). Fuchs wrote that the flowers and leaves put in wine will cause men to be glad and merry, and "driveth away all heavy sadness and melancholy." By the end of the 17th century it had fallen out of use, although the flowers and leaves were still added to alcoholic drinks (Pimms) until the end of the 20th century. The discovery of gamma-linoleic acid in the oil from the seeds resulted in commercial production as a substitute source to the seeds of the Evening Primrose, Oenothera sp. It was the discovery of hepatotoxic unsaturated pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the leaves of borage that led to medical officials advising against internal use, and it is no longer added to summer drinks.