312 THE BORAGE FAMILY. [Myosotis. — 
small, blue or white, in one-sided racemes, either forked or simple, without 
bracts at the base of the pedicels. Calyx 5-toothed or 5-cleft. Corolla 
with a small, straight tube, half-closed at its mouth by 5 short scales, and 
a spreading, flat or concave, 5-lobed limb. Stamens included in the tube. — | 
Nuts smooth and shining, compressed or triangular, attached by their small 
base. 
A numerous genus in Europe and northern Asia, scarce in North Ame- 
rica, but reappearing in Australia. Although the characters which separate 
it from Anchusa appear slight, it is very distinct in habit. 
Some exotic species are cultivated in our flower-gardens, together with 
varieties of M. palustris, M. sylvatica, and M. collina. 
Calyx-teeth short or not divided beyond the middle. Hairs of 
the calyx appressed : : : - ‘ : : P 
Calyx deeply cleft, the hairs spreading or hooked. 
Belen as long or longer than the calyx, 3 to 6 lines long when 
in fruit. 
Perennial with rather large flowers. Limb of the corolla flat 2. M. sylvatica. 
Annual or biennial, with small flowers. . Limb of the corolla 
often concave . : : ; ; 4 : é ‘ . 3. MU arvensis. 
Pedicels not above a line long, usually shorter than the calyx. 
Annuals. 
Stem ascending or branched from the base. Calyx usually 
open after flowering. Corolla always blue A : : 
Stem erect, simple at the base. Calyx always closed after 
flowering. Corolla at first yellow, afterwards blue . . 5. M. versicolor. 
1. M. palustris, With. (fig. 697). Water Myosote, Forget-me-not. 
—Perennial stock usually slightly creeping ; the stems weak, ascending, 
from 6 to 18 inches high, often nearly glabrous, but sometimes rather 
thickly clothed with spreading hairs. Leaves glabrous or with appressed 
hairs. Flowers of a bright clear blue, with a yellow eye, very variable in 
size, but usually rather large for the genus. Calyx never divided below 
the middie, whilst in all other British species it is deeply cleft. 
In wet ditches, and by the sides of streams, in Europe, Russian Asia, N. 
India, and northern America, extending into the Arctic Circle. Abundant 
in Britain. Fl, the whole summer. Modern botanists divide it into three : 
the true Forget«me-not, which is often nearly glabrous, with a broad flat co- 
rolla, and short broad teeth to the calyx; M. repens, Don., which is more 
hairy, with narrower lobes to the calyx, reaching to about the middle; and 
DI. cespitosa, Schultz, with a smaller corolla, with the limb often slightly 
concave ; the first is more common in the south, the last in the north, but 
they all three run so much one ,into another as not to be distinguishable 
with certainty even as varieties. 
2, M. sylvatica, Hoffm. (fig. 698). Wood Myosote.—A perennial, like 
M. palustris, but with a more tufted stock, and rather roughly hairy. 
Calyx cleft nearly to the base, with narrow segments, erect when in fruit ; 
its hairs more or less spreading, and crisped or hooked when seen through 
alens. Corolla as large as or even larger than in the M. palustis, with the 
limb spread out flat. 
In mountain pastures and shady situations, common in the far north of 
Europe and Asia, as well as in the great central chains from the Pyrenees 
to the Caucasus and the Altai. Not frequent in Britain, nor occurring 
north of Forfarshire. FU. sunvmer. It varies much in size and stature ; in 
1. MM, palustris. 3 
4, M. collina. 
