66 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



monest, and at the same time most strikingly beautiful 

 species of a genus that includes several common and grace- 

 ful forms. How many species we really have is a point 

 on which considerable difference of opinion exists. One 

 botanist will elevate to the rank of a species what another 

 prefers to consider but a variation more or less permanent 

 from some specific type. Bentham, an authority of no 

 mean weight, admits four definitely, and a fifth dubiously ; 

 while Hooker, an authority no less reliable, describes eight 

 species. Of these forms the greater number are common, 

 though one or two are by no means generally distributed. 



The plant represented in our illustration is the forget- 

 me-not par excellence, the plant which, as it shoots forth its 

 tender green leaves and flowers of purest blue, is so beau- 

 tiful a feature amidst the rank vegetation that lines the 

 edges of the stream. There is no other flower at all like it 

 in a like situation, so that any error in identification is 

 impossible. The brooklime most resembles it; but any- 

 thing but the most cursory inspection would at once suffice 

 to distinguish it. We need but mention one point : in the 

 brooklime the corolla is composed of four segments, of which 

 one is considerably smaller than any of the remaining 

 three, while in the forget-me-not the corolla is divided into 

 five similar parts. Many other points of difference are 

 readily apparent, but the distinction we have named in the 

 forms of the blossoms will be amply sufficient to prevent 

 possibility of error. 



The Myosotis palustris, as our species is termed botani- 

 cally, is abundantly met with almost everywhere throughout 

 Britain. It begins flowering in June and lasts in blossom 

 all through the summer and autumn. The stem is some- 

 what weak and succulent, rising generally to about a foot 



