OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRITISH SPECIES OF MYOSOTIS. 
By Robert J. N* Streeten, M. D. 
In the Species Plantarum of Linneus four species of the genus Myosotis are 
enumerated. Two of these are now referred to Echinosp ermum ; of the remaining 
two, the Myosotis seorpioides is the only one with which we are, at present, con¬ 
cerned. Under this name the immortal founder of systematic botany—-for until 
his time the science was little more than a rudis indigestaque moles , a confused 
mass of observations beyond the powers of the most retentive memory to retain— 
appears to have included several of the now recognised species, three of which he 
indeed characterizes as varieties. Of these varieties the first, « } is the Myosotis ar - 
vensis of the Swedish botanists and of Hooker’s British Flora; the second, ft is 
the M. palustris of modern authors, the true Forget-me-not; and the third, 
y, is the M. versicolor of Lehman and others. Our countryman, Ray, had 
already recognized these varieties, and Dillenius had added another, the Myosotis 
seorpioides latifolia hirsuta (M. sylvatica of Hooker’s British Flora), of which 
he gives a figure. This last, however, appears to have been first admitted as a 
distinct species of the flora of this country by Sir James Smith, in his English 
Flora , under the name of M. intermedia , although he erroneously refers the 
plant of Dillenius to his M. sylvatica , which is the M. arvensis of the British 
Flora ; Hudson had previously admitted it as a variety of M. seorpioides in his 
Flora Anglica , in addition to those described in the Species Plantarum. Sir 
James Smith and Sir William J. Hooker have not only recognized the preceding 
as species but have admitted three new ones—the M. alpestris of Schmidt, the 
M. coespitosa of Schultz (?) and the M. collina of Hoffman; which last is the M. 
arvensis of the English Flora, although with some erroneous synonyms. To 
these may, perhaps, be added the M. repens of Don, which is admitted as a dis¬ 
tinct species by some foreign botanists, although it has hitherto been considered, 
by British authors, as a variety merely of M. palustris. 
Having made these preliminary observations, I proceed now to give the charac¬ 
ters of the genus and species, with such remarks as may be required for their 
further elucidation. 
Myosotis, Linn. — Scorpion Grass. 
Linnean Class, Pentandria —Order, Monogynia, 
Natural Order, Boraginece, Jussieu. 
Gen. Char— Calyx five-cleft or five-toothed. Corolla salver-shaped, with a 
short tube; the lobes obtuse, emarginate; the mouth half-closed, with short 
rounded scales. Nuts smooth, perforated at the base. 
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