BORAGE FAMILY 



FORGET-ME-NOT 



Myositis palHstris. 



Myosotis, Greek, mouse-ear; from the short soft leaves of some 

 species. 



The primitive of many garden forms; native to both Europe and 

 Asia. Perennial. May-July. 



Stem. — Decumbent, loosely branched, growing from a creeping base. 

 Leaves. — Alternate, lanceolate, or lance-oblong, pubescent, entire. 

 Flowers. — Small, pale-blue with a yellow eye, borne in a loose raceme 



curled at the end, and straightening as 



the flowers expand. 



Calyx. — Five-cleft, remaining open 

 in fruit; hairs of calyx straight. 



Corolla. — Salver-shaped; lobes five, 

 rounded, with appendages at the throat. 



Stamens. — Five; ovary of five almost 

 separate lobes, forming in fruit four 

 nutlets; style thread-like. 



Garden Form of Forget-me-not 



It is very diflScult for a man or a 

 flower to live up to a fixed reputa- 

 tion, and our pretty Forget-me-not 

 has virtually an impossible task to 

 reach the requirements of the senti- 

 mental literature concerning it. 

 The plant, apart from the litera- 

 ture, has a very real and natural 

 charm; is pretty when banked by 

 the side of a pond or a runlet, and gives an abundant and 

 continuous bloom through all the summer days. 



Various garden forms have been developed, some with flowers 

 larger than the type; others with stems more erect; Myosotis 

 arvSnsis, the Field Forget-me-not, is an erect plant six to 

 eighteen inches high, with flowers usually blue, though some- 

 times white. 



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