WHA T IS MYOSOTIS ! 239 



bling, the primrose ; in its bract it has a drop of gold, and on 

 each segment of the coloured portion of the flower is a small 

 streak or fleck of white. 



Both the true forget-me-not and the false belong to the 

 Borage family, or Boraginacese, which includes sixty-seven 

 known genera, and nearly nine hundred species. 



It is said that after the battle of Waterloo, a remarkable 

 number of forget-me-nots sprung up all over the fatal field. 

 The circumstance might well be made the theme of a poet's lay, 

 were it not for a suspicion that the little blue flowers belonged to 

 the Myosotis arvensis species, and not to the Myosotis palustris. 



But why Myosotis ? This Greek compound surely means 

 "mouse-ear," and what have these plants to do with the 

 auricular organs of mice? Why, their leaves were supposed 

 to resemble in form the ear of Mus domesticus. The name of 

 "scorpion-grass" originated in the fact that the top of the 

 stem coils round while the buds are unblown, like a scorpion's 

 tail. It is strange how quick the common people have been 

 to detect these analogies, and to perpetuate them in the appel- 

 lations they have bestowed on the flowers of the meadow, the 

 wood, and the green lane. 



The singularly beautiful name of the Myosotis palustris 

 we mean its common and non-scientific name, is ascribed, in 

 a well-known German legend, to the dying knight who, having 

 ventured at a dangerous spot to pluck a handful of the bright 

 blue blossoms for his lady-love, fell into the stream, and as 

 he sank, flung the dear-bought spoil towards her, exclaiming, 

 " Forget me not ! " 



