Forget-Me-Not
Scientific Name: Myosotis sylvatica Hoffm.
Family: Boraginaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Growth habit and size: Perennial or biennial herbaceous plant, 10-50 cm tall.
Stem: Straight or ascending stem, branched, with appressed hairs in the inflorescence and soft and spreading hairs throughout the rest of the stem.
Leaves: Leaves range from oval to lanceolate; the lower ones are 3-8 cm long, petiolate, with spreading hairs; the upper ones are alternate, sessile, and have appressed hairs.
Flowers: Small calyx, caducous at maturity, open at fruiting, with 5 linear teeth not converging, rounded base, densely covered with straight, hooked hairs of 0.2 mm. Fruiting pedicels are erect-patent, equal to or slightly longer than the calyx (3-5 mm). Corolla is 6-10 mm in diameter, bright blue (rarely pink or white), odorless, with flat petal lobes. Blooms from March to September.
Fruits and seeds: The fruits are mericarps (nutlets) approximately 1.2 x 0.7 mm, acute at the apex, dark brown, shiny, with a well-developed rim.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
It grows throughout Italy except in Sardinia and Campania, in meadows and fallow lands, on fresh and moist soils rich in humus. From 500 to 1,800 m and rarely between 200 and 2,200 m.
USE
In medicine, dried flowers or flowering tops are used to prepare an infusion known for its ophthalmic virtues, capable of preventing the clouding of the lens and delaying the onset of cataracts. It should be noted that this is an aid to medical treatments. Before taking any plant-based product (medicinal or non-medicinal) for therapeutic or similar purposes, it is always advisable to consult a doctor.
INTERESTING FACTS
The color difference during the flowering development depends on the acidity level in the petal cells. If acidic cell sap prevails (humus-rich soil), the color turns pink; if the soil is neutral or alkaline, it turns blue. In medieval Germany, a story was told of a knight and his lady walking along a riverbank when they spotted these flowers. The knight, bending down to pick a bouquet for his lady, slipped under the weight of his armor and fell into the river. Before drowning, he told his beloved, “Vergiss mein nicht” (forget-me-not). From this incident, the flower became associated with true love. In 1802, English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a poem about this legend, “The Keepsake”: – That blue and bright-eyed floweret of the brook, Hope’s gentle gem, the sweet Forget-me-not!
Photo: Kindly provided by Claudio Farinati
