Pi. ATI: M-i. AIVOSOTIS P'OKSTEKI. 



Family B( )RAGINACEiE.] [Genus MYOSOTIS. Linx. 



Myosotis Forsteri, Lehm. Asperij. 95; II,,,,!.-. j. Ilainlli. N.Z. Fi \'M : ('hee.se.)ii Ma.i, NZ 

 Fl. Ki3. 



The genus Myosotis in probably better represented in New Zealand than in any 

 other country, no less than twenty-six species being now known to inhabit it. Of 

 these, about one-half belong to the typical portion of the genus, in which the stamens 

 are inserted on the corolla-tube, tlie filaments being so short that the tips of the 

 anthers barely exceed the corolla-scales, or are below their level. The remainder 

 of the species fall into the section Exarrhena (often kept as a distinct genus), which 

 has the stamens inserted between the corolla-scales, the anthers being produced 

 beyond them, and sometimes overtopping the corolla-lobes. 



M. Forsteri, which is a typical Myosotis, was first gathered by Banks and 

 Solander in Cook's first voyage. They appear to have met with it in most of 

 the localities visited by them, for in Solander's manuscripts it is recorded from 

 " Tigadu, Tolago, Opuragi, Motuaro, and Totaranui." Whether it was also gathered 

 by Forster in Cook's second voyage is not so certain, although most probable. The 

 species was described by Lehmann in 1818 under Forster's name, which would seem 

 to imply that Forster had collected it ; but, on the other hand, the only species 

 mentioned in Forster's " Prodromus " is M. spathulata, which differs greatly in the 

 structure of the flower. Probably, as suggested by Alphonse de CandoUe (Prodr. 

 X, 110), it was mixed with that species in Forster's collections, and was overlooked 

 until Lehmann's time. This view is rendered more probable by the fact that 

 A. Richard, in his " Flore de la Nouvelle Zelande," described undoubted specimens 

 of M. Forsteri, collected by D'Urville a little to the north of Nelson, under the name 

 of M. spathulata. Richard had full access to Forster's plants, and was no doubt 

 misled by both the species being mixed together. As soon as the botanical investiga- 

 tion of the Dominion was taken in hand by resident observers M. Forsteri was 

 found to have a fairly general distribution from the Bay of Islands southwards to 

 the west of Otago, although it appears to be local on the eastern side of the South 

 Island. 



M. Forsteri is usually found by the sides of streams, either in hilly and 

 wooded districts or in open swampy forests. As a species it is distinguished by its 

 weak and diffuse habit, the stems being usually decumbent, but ascending or 

 suberect above. The leaves are oblong or oblong-orbicular, and rounded at both 

 ends. The flowers, which are white or white with a yellow eye, are arranged in long 

 and slender many-flowered racemes, the lower flowers often being axillary. The 

 nutlets are broadly ovoid, pale shining brown. Its nearest ally is M. australis : 

 but that species is more erect and much more hispid ; the pedicels are more erect, 

 the flowers are generally yellow ; and the nutlets are narrower and always black 

 when fully ripe. 



Plate 142. Myosotis Forsteri, drawn from specimens collected by the Patea River, near Stratford. 

 Taranaki. Fig. 1, small portion of leaf, showing the bristly hairs (x 3) ; 2, flower (x 6) ; ."3. calvx 

 laid open (x 8) ; 4, corolla laid open (x 8) ; 5 and 6, front ;ind back view of anther (x 12) ; 7. ovarv 

 and style (x 15) ; 8, ripe fruit (x 8) ; 9, nutlet (x 8). 



