93 



HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 18GS. 



is indisputably 2Iyosotis palustris ; needing no 

 "nauseous taste" or fleeting blossom to account 

 for the name to which its beauty entitles it. 



The genus Myosotis belongs to the Borage tribe 

 [Boraginacea), an order which contains some of our 

 most beautiful wild flowers : the general features 

 of which are entire, hairy (often bristly) leaves, and 

 large monopetalous (i. e. all in one piece) corollas, 

 which are usually of some shade of blue. How 

 many species of Myosotis are found in Britain 

 greatly depends upon our estimate of the marks 

 necessary to the definition of a "species." Gerarde 

 knew of but two, M. palustris and M.arvensis; and 

 Withering, in his 'Arrangement ' (ed. iv., published 

 1801), admits of no more. Most modern botanists, 

 however, enumerate eight, though Mr. Bentham 

 recognises but five, and seems to intimate that even 

 one of these may not be really distinct. Babington 

 says that the genus is distinguished from all other 

 gener-a of Boraginaceous plants by its "convolute 

 corolla'" — that is, by the corolla, when in bud, 

 being twisted together lengthwise. All our British 

 species are small plants, with narrow, entire, mostly 

 hairy leaves, and bright blue rotate (or wheel- 

 shaped) five-cleft corollas. The Eorget-me-not 

 may be taken as a type of the genus ; and if we 

 keep this constantly before us, we shall not be 

 likely to go far wrong in our search for the other 

 species. 



Taking the more general estimate as correct, we 

 will follow Professor Babington's division of the 

 eight species into two groups : the first comprising 

 sis species, in which the corolla is persistent, that 

 is, does not easily fall off ; and the second, the 

 remaining two, in which the corolla is fugacious, 

 soon dropping off. 



I. Persistent. — This section we may, for con- 

 venience, subdivide into two groups : the first, 

 of three species, growing in damp places, which we 

 may call Eorget-me-nots ; the second, of an equal 

 number, frequenting dry ground, known as Scorpion- 

 Grasses. 



1. The Forget-me-nots. — Our true Eorget-me-not 

 claims first consideration, and surely needs but 

 little description : so generally known and admired 

 is it, both by poet and lover, the one celebrating 

 the " sweet Eorget-me-nots which blow " for the 

 other. Mr. Bentham calls it the Water Myosote, 

 a name pretty enough in itself, but by no means 

 English. The old appellation for this, as for all the 

 members of the genus, is Scorpion-Grass ; because, 

 to quote our old friend Gerarde, " the whole branch 

 of floures doe turne themselves round like the 

 Scorpions taile." He classes it with a curious 

 plant (a species of Trigonclla ?), the twisted pods 

 of which suggested the same name. Our old 

 herbalists, we are well aware, often acted on the 

 principle "like cures like;" and here we have an 

 instance of it. " Dioscorides saith that the leaves 



of Scorpion grasse applyed to the place is a present 

 remedy against the stinging of Scorpions, and like- 

 wise boyled in wine and drunke, prevaileth against 

 the said bitings, as also of adders, snakes, and such 

 venomous beasts." This curious curling or twisting 

 of the flower-spikes is eminently characteristic of 

 many of the Boraginacea. The leaves of the Eorget- 

 me-not are nearly smooth, occasionally slightly 

 hairy, and the stem angular : the " floures grow at 

 the top of tender fat greene stalkes, blew of colour, 

 and sometimes with a spot of yellow among the 

 blew." It is impossible for any observer to mistake 

 M. palustris for any other plant ; its place of growth 

 and large blue flowers at once distinguish it. The 

 Brooklime {Veronica Beccabunga) is occasionally 

 miscalled Eorget-me-not ; but its small four-cleft 

 corolla at once determines it, to say nothing of 

 other peculiarities."* The Eorget-me-not blossoms 

 from the end of May until September, and is very 

 common by streams ; we have seen such masses of 

 its turquoise flowers in the little creeks which here 

 and there branch off from the Thames about Great 

 Marlow, that one might think a tiny piece of blue 

 sky had fallen down, and settled upon the herbage. 

 Looking over a pleasant little bookf the other day ? 

 we saw it stated that " botanists speak of the true 

 Eorget-me-not as rare;" but this remark is not 

 "founded on fact." — Our next species is the Creep- 

 ing Eorget-me-not (M. repens). This is much like 

 its " big brother " M. palustris, but has smaller 

 flowers. Babington directs attention to the fact 

 that the calyx is divided "fully half-way down," 

 while in M. palustris it is divided " about one-third 

 down ; " a minute difference it may seem to some, 

 but, if constant, a sufficient one. The stem is creep- 

 ing, rooting at the base, but this is almost equally 

 the case in M. palustris. We may observe that the 

 leaves of this species are more hairy than those of 

 the Forget-me-not; the raceme is "slightly leafy 

 below," and the flowers are intermediate in size 

 between those of 31. palustris and those of the next 

 species. Although recorded from many localities, 

 the Creeping Eorget-me-not is not a very common 

 plant.— The Small Eorget-me-not (3/. ccespitosd) is 

 also called the Tufted Scorpion-Grass, in reference 

 to its Latin name, which does not seem particularly 

 appropriate. This is a frequent plant of boggy and 

 watery places, and is easily distinguishable : the 

 blossoms are small, light blue with a yellow eye, 

 as in 31. palustris : the leaves and stems are of a 

 paler green, and the latter much more slender than 

 those of either of the preceding. It is, indeed, 

 altogether a smaller species, of very erect habit, 

 blossoming from June until September. Mr. Ben- 

 tham says that M. palustris is more common in the 

 south of England, M. cccspitosa in the north : " but 



* See Sciknck-Gossip, ii. 123. 



t The Everyday Book of Natural History. 



