Transcript Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not
(Myosotis scorpioides L.)
Family: Boraginaceae
Genus: Myosotis (my-oh-SO-tis)
Means mouse ear referring to
the shape of the individual
petals.
Species: scorpioides (skor-peeOY-dees) Means scorpion and
refers to coiled shape of the
plant. It is sometimes spelled
scorpoides.
(Myosotis palustris)
Forget Me Not
Other names include: common forget-me-not, water
forget me not, forget-me-not, true forget me not,
true forget-me-not, water forget-me-not and
mermaid.
Forget me not is a non-native evergreen short lived
perennial which loves water and grows 20 to 60 cm
high and spread 22 to 30 cm near or across the top
of the water.
In Altona Forest it grows beside and sometimes in
Petticoat Creek near the parking lot where it gets
semi-shade and full sunlight. It requires consistently
moist soil.
Forget Me Not
The leaves are long, willow-like,
narrow and alternate. They are
attached directly to the stem and
have pointed or rounded tips with
a prominent mid-vein. It is often
in leaf all year.
The stem has hairs which are
appressed above and may be
spreading or appressed
below. They are weak, often bent
at the base and branched. It has
creeping horizontal stems called
stolons at the plant base which
can give rise to roots.
Forget-Me-Not
The tiny, blue, short-stalked flowers with a
yellow center, are located along the upper
end of the stem and are arranged along the
outside of the coiled stem tip. The flowers
unfurl in a "fiddlehead" fashion. The hairs
on the calyx appressed, not spreading or
hooked. The petals are slightly notched at
tip.
They are hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs)
and are pollinated by bees, flies, moths and butterflies. The
diameter of the flower is 4-15 mm. The base of the 5 blue
petals forms a tube less than or equal to length of the petal
lobes.
They bloom from May to September showing brightly
against the otherwise green banks of Petticoat Creek.
Forget-Me-Not
Blue flowers have a yellow centre. Leaves are lance shaped and about 3
to 9 cm long.
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The centre is not always yellow.
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Forget Me Not
Reproduction is by seeds but new plants also form at the
nodes of creeping stolons.
The fruit is small (<2 mm), shiny, brown to black "nutlets" in
clusters of 4 per flower which ripen from July to September.
The roots are fibrous and spread out from the plant.
Forget Me Not
Forget me not has been used in the treatment of whooping cough and bronchitis. Some 1st
Nations people used the flowers of one variety as a "love charm." Historically, it was used by
other cultures to treat dog or snake bites.
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