202 



COROLLIFLOR^ 



blue, and the tube of the corolla is bent, which distinguishes it 

 horn any other British plant of the Order. Waste ground, 

 common. — Fl. June to August. Annual. 



8. Anchusa (Alkanet) 



1. A. sempervirens (Evergreen Alkanet.) — 

 A stout bristly plant, with deep green, egg- 

 shaped leaves and short spikes of rather large 

 salver-shaped flowers, which are of an intense 

 azure-blue. It is not a native, but in Devon- 

 shire it is not an uncommon hedge plant. — 

 Fl. June to August. Perennial. 



2. A. officinalts (Common Alkanet).— i^/onycrs 

 purple, funnel-shaped, growing in one-sided 

 spikes, the segments of the calyx being longer 

 than the corolla. It is frequent in gardens, 

 from which it is a not uncommon escape, but 

 it is extremely rare in a wild state. — Fl. June, 

 July. Biennial. 



Anchusa 



Sempervirens 



(Evergreen Alkanet) 



g. Myosotis {Mouse-ear, Scorpion-grass, Forget-me-not) 



I. M. palustris (Forget-me-not). — Calyx covei'ed 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, one-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 narne 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. ccBspitosa (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. ccBspitosa, not 

 flowering so late in the year. Five other and yet smaller species 



