BORAGINACE.T:. 99 



SPECIES II.-M YOSOTIS PALUSTRIS. With. 



Plate MCIV. 

 Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVni. Tab. MCCCXX. 



Rootstock elongate, creeping, oblique, stoloniferous ; stolons sub- 

 terranean, with small leaves during the summer, at length rooting at 

 the nodes. Stem decumbent and rooting at the base, erect or as- 

 cending, flexuous, slightly branched, with the j)ubescence in the 

 lower part commonly spreading or nearly absent, rarely adpressed. 

 Lower leaves oblong-oblanceolate, gradually attenuated towards the 

 base, and subpetiolate ; stem leaves sessile, strongly decurrent, ellip- 

 tical- strapshaped or elliptical-oblong ; all obtuse and apiculate, tliinly 

 clothed with adjaressed pubescence. Pedicels rather slender, in fruit 

 horizontal or reflexed-divaricate, and sometimes subsecund, all with- 

 out bracts, longer than the calyx, the lower ones twice or thrice as 

 long. Calyx with adpressed straight hairs, widely bellshaped and 

 open m fruit; segments deltoid, divided about one-fourth of the way 

 do'Nvn. CoroUa limb twice or thrice as wide across as the length of 

 the tube, flat; segments broader than long, slightly emarginate. Style 

 nearly as long as the calyx. Plant light green, with a somewhat 

 greasy lustre. 



Var a, germina. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 154. 



Pubescence of the stem spreading. 



Var. ^, sti'igulosa. 



Billot. Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 154, bis. 

 M. strigulosa, Heidi. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 342. 



Pubescence of the stem adpressed. Plant more erect, leaves less 

 strongly decurrent, and flowers smaller than in var. a. 



In ditches, marshes, and wet places. Rather common, and generally 

 distributed in England ; more rare in Scotland, though extendmg 

 north to Rescobie Loch, Forfarshire. Frequent in Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring to Autumn. 



M. palustris difiers from M. ca;spitosa in the rootstock in autumn 

 sending out into the mud numerous elongate stolons resembling those 

 of Epilobium obscurum, but much stouter. The stem of M. palustris is 

 usually taller, generally decumbent at the base and more angular ; the 

 leaves are commonly broader and less parallel-sided ; the racemes are more 

 flexuous, without leaves at the base ; the pedicels stouter and commonly 

 shorter ; the flowers much larger, l to f inch across, bright sky-blue, 



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