104 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



triangular-lanceolate, divided more than half-way down. Corolla limb 

 flat, rather more than twice as wide across as the length of the tube ; 

 segments as broad as long, entire. Style rather more than half the 

 length of the calyx. Nucules keeled towards the apex on the face, 

 hidistinctly bordered at the apex only. Plant rather dull green, 

 without any lustre. 



In woods. Rather rare, though widely distributed ; but it is so often 

 confounded with the wood form of M. arvensis that it is difficult to 

 give the distribution accurately. I have seen no specimens from a 

 more southern station than Staffordshire and Yorkshire ; but the 

 figure in " English Botany " was drawn from a Norfolk specimen, and 

 the Rev. W. W. Newbould has seen one from Essex. In the south 

 of Scotland it is more abundant, especially in the woods along the 

 banks of the Esk from Pennecuik to Inveresk, which is the only place 

 in which I have gathered it myself. 



England, Scotland. Biennial or Perennial. (?) Spring, early 



Summer. 



Stems slender, commonly numerous, 8 inches to 2 feet high. Root 

 leaves (including the petiole) 1 to 6 inches long; stem leaves 1 to 

 2 inches long. Racemes at length 3 to 7 inches long; rachis weak. 

 Flowers f mch across, bright blue, resembling those of M. palustris, 

 from which, however, the hooked hairs on the calyx, the distinctly 

 stalked root leaves, and the want of lustre distinguish it at a glance. 

 M. sylvatica certainly comes very near to M. alpestris, and perhaps 

 ought to be considered distinct from that mei'ely as a sub-species, but 

 it has a difFei'ent mode of growth, the rootstock not dividing mto 

 numerous branches below ground, but sending off stems and some- 

 times barren shoots above the surface of the soil. Tlie stems are 

 weaker, and the racemes less stiff than in M. alpestris ; the leaves are 

 broader, especially those on the stem, which have a tendency to become 

 lanceolate, or the upper ones even ovate-lanceolate, and the hairs upon 

 them are much shorter, stifFer, straighter, and finer, and those on the 

 upper side of the leaves without enlarged glandular bases; the 

 pedicels are longer, more slender, and more divaricate; the calyx 

 considerably shorter, wider at the base, and ^vith the segments conni- 

 vent (not spreading) in fruit, and has the hairs with hooked points much 

 more numerous ; the corolla is smaller, and paler blue ; the nucules 

 are more broadly ovate-ovoid, and have a keel on the face towards the 

 apex, so that the point forms a 3-sided pyramid, and the border on 

 their edges towards the apex is less prominent than in M. alpestris. 

 The root generally dies after flowering once, though this is said not to 

 be always the case. 



Wood Forget-me-not. 



French, Myosctis des Forels. German, Wald Verr/issmeinnicht. 



