438 BORAGINACE^. 



9. MYOSOTIS (Mouse-ear, Scorpion-grass, Forget-me-not). 



1. M. palustris (Forget-me-not). Calyx covered 

 with straight, closely-pressed bristles, open when in 

 fruit ; root creeping. Watery places, common. Few 

 flowers have been more written about than the Forget- 

 me-not, yet there is great disagreement among writers 

 as to the plant to which the name properly belongs. 

 Some appear to have had the Alkanet in view ; others, 

 the Speedwell ; and others, again, some of the smaller 

 species of Myosotis, which last, though very like the 

 true Forget-me-not, are inferior in size and brilliancy of 

 colour. The real Forget-me-not is an aquatic plant, 

 with a long rooting stem, bright-green, roughish leaves, 

 and terminal, leafless, 1 -sided clusters of bright blue 

 flowers, with a yellow eye, and a small white ray at the 

 base of each lobe of the corolla. The species which is 

 most like it is M. repens (Creeping Water Scorpion- 

 grass), which, as its name implies, has also a creeping 

 root ; the hairs of the calyx are closely pressed, as in 

 M. palustris, but the calyx is closed when in fruit, and 

 the clusters of flowers usually have a few leaves on 

 the stalk. M. ccespitosa (Tufted Water Scorpion-grass) 

 resembles the above, but has a fibrous root, and the 

 flowers of both the last are smaller than those of M. 

 palustris. All three grow in watery places ; M. palustris 

 being most common, and flowering from June to October, 

 M. repens least so, and, as well as M. ccespitosa, not 

 flowering so late in the year. Three other and yet 

 smaller species are common, but these do not grow in 

 watery places, and are of a different habit. 



2. M. arvensis (Field Scorpion-grass). Calyx covered 

 with spreading, hooked bristles, closed when in fruit ; 

 stalks of the fruit spreading. In cultivated ground, 

 hedges, and groves, abundant. Whole plant roughish 

 with spreading bristles ; the stems are from 6 18 inches 

 high, or more ; the flowers blue, small, but very beau- 



