THE BORAGE FAMILY 
49 
(inferior) ; corolla of 5 petals, salver-shaped, united into a short straight tube and spreading into a 
flat 5-lobed limb, twisted in bud, the throat of the tube nearly closed with 5 blunt scales, inserted 
below the seedcase (hypogynous) ; stamens 5, very short, included in and inserted upon the 
corolla-tube (epi-petalous) ; carpels 2, with the style undivided ; fruit of 4 little nuts, smooth, and 
attached at the base to the flat receptacle. Softly hairy or nearly smooth herbs, rather weak and 
straggling, with alternate undivided leaves. 
Calyx never divided more than halfway down ; hairs on calyx close-pressed and straight. 
(1) Great Water Forget-me-not. (Myosotis scorpioides.) — Flowers £ inch across ; calyx 
divided one-third down into short broad teeth, which are erect in fruit ; style as long 
as calyx. 
(2) Creeping Water Forget-me-not. (Myosotis repens.) — Flowers ^ inch across ; calyx 
divided halfway down into narrow pointed teeth, which are spreading in fruit ; style 
not quite as long as calyx. 
(3) Tufted Water Forget-me-not. (Myosotis csespitosa.) — Flowers £ inch across ; calyx 
divided nearly halfway down into short blunt teeth, which are slightly spreading 
in fruit ; style half as long as calyx. 
Calyx deeply divided ; with spreading and hooked hairs. 
(4) Wood Forget-me-not. (Myosdtis sylvat'ica.) — Flowers J inch across; calyx-teeth erect 
in fruit ; corolla-limb flat, lobes entire ; style not quite as long as calyx. 
(5) Alpine Forget-me-not. (Myosdtis pyrenaica.) — Flowers ^ inch across ; calyx-teeth 
spreading in fruit ; style rather more than half as long as calyx. 
(6) Field Forget-me-not. (Myosdtis arven'sis.)— Flowers small ; calyx-teeth erect in fruit ; 
corolla-limb often concave ; style less than half as long as calyx. 
(7) Dwarf Forget-me-not. (Myosdtis collina.) — Flowers minute, not pink in bud, with a 
solitary flower some distance below the others in the axil of the uppermost leaf ; calyx- 
teeth spreading in fruit ; style rather more than half as long as calyx. 
(8) Parti-coloured Forget-me-not. (Myosdtis versic'olor.) — Flowers very small, yellow, 
becoming blue ; calyx-teeth closed over fruit ; style nearly as long as calyx. 
1 . Great Water Forget-me-not. (Myosotis scorpioides. Linn.)— As just described. 
The flowers large, about \ inch across, of a brilliant opaque blue with white scales and a yellow 
eye, in leafless forked r -sided clusters, coiled in bud, terminating the stem and branches ; the calyx 
is widely bell-shaped, divided about one-third down into short broad teeth, erect in fruit, and clothed 
with straight close-pressed hairs ; the corolla-tube is much shorter than the spreading limb, the 
lobes of which are slightly notched ; the style is about as long as the calyx ; the stems are 
6-18 inches high, weak, but ascending, angular, smooth, or with spreading hairs ; the leaves oblong, 
blunt, ending in an abrupt point, the upper narrower, stalkless (sessile), and running down the stem 
(decurrent), and the lower broader and gradually narrowing into a stalk, thinly coated with hairs 
which are pressed against the leaf (adpressed). The root sends out numerous stout rootlets 
(stolons) in the autumn. The whole plant is light green and somewhat shining. ( Myosotis 
palustris. Hill.) [ Plate 19 
Common. In wet ditches and marshes, and by the side or water, all through the British Isles 
May — September. Perennial. 
VOL II 
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