Field Forget-me-not
Scientific Name: Myosotis arvensis (L.) Hill
Family: Boraginaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Habit and dimensions: An annual herbaceous plant, rarely biennial, reaching 10-30 (60) cm in height with a short oblique root.
Stem: Thin ascending or erect stems, often branched from the base, with straight hairs, spreading in the lower part, then appressed in the upper part.
Leaves: Basal leaves clustered in a rosette, oblanceolate, measuring 5-9×15-27, max 15×80 mm, subsessile, acute, with straight appressed hairs directed towards the apex; cauline leaves sessile and smaller in size.
Flowers: Inflorescence in an elongated scorpioid cyme, multiflorous, without bracts. Calyx gamosepalous, funnel-shaped, divided to just over half into narrowly triangular lobes, hirsute with spreading hooked hairs, measuring 2-2.5 mm, elongating to 5 (-7) mm at fruiting, closed due to convergence of teeth. Corolla with a tube of 2 mm, buds pinkish in color then opening to reveal 5 petals Ø 3 mm, assuming a bluish or light blue color with a yellow throat at the center, concave and somewhat elongated like a cup. Blooms from March to July.
Fruits and seeds: The schizocarpic fruit is a microbasarium (tetranucula) containing 4 mericarps (nutlets) measuring 1.2 x 2 mm, ovate, with an acute apex, rounded base, greenish, becoming brown-blackish at maturity.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Present throughout Italy in cultivated fields, flowerbeds, embankments, roadsides, and paths, from 0 to 1,200 m.
INTERESTING FACTS
Several legends are linked to its popular name. It is said that in Germany, during the medieval period, a knight and his lady were walking along the riverbanks when they spotted this beautiful flower. The knight bent down to pick a bunch to offer to his lady, but the weight of his armor caused him to fall into the water, and before drowning, he cried out to his beloved, “forget me not.” From this legend, this little flower has been associated with the idea of love. Many cultivated species adorn gardens.
Photo: Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 by Saxifraga and Peter Meininger, Ab H Baas, Rutger Barendse



















