MYOSOTIS CONGESTA

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Myosotis (Gr) Mouse-ear, A name used by the Greek physician and

botanist Dioscorides.

Congesta (L) Arranged very closely together, crowded.

General description:- Annual.

Stem:-

a) Not more than 25 cm.

b) usually small and slender, often branched at the base.

c) hairs, spreading (patent) below, appressed above; those on the pedicels often

patent.

Leaves:-

1) Basal:

a) up to 4 cm.

b) lanceolate, obtuse.

2) Cauline:

a) ovate-lanceolate.

b) upper acute.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence:

a) not leafy at the base.

b) many-flowered.

c) always blue.

d) lax below, dense above.

2) Stems:

a) shorter than the calyx in fruit.

3) Calyx:

a) up to 3 mm in fruit.

b) deciduous, with soft deflexed, hooked hairs.

4) Corolla:

a) not more than 2 mm c. 1·3 mm diam.

b) saucer-shaped.

c) pale yellow or cream at first, becoming pink, violet or even blue.

d) tube, pale blue to dark violet.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets:

a) 1 x 0·5 mm.

b) dark brown.

Key features:-

1) Nutlets with a rim; brown.

2) Corolla-tube lengthening after anthesis.

3) Calyx open or half-open in fruit.

4) Pedicels, the lowermost rarely longer than the calyx, usually patent.

Habitat:- Dry, sandy flats, streambeds, phrygana, fallow fields 0-1300 m..

Distribution:- Mediterranean region; very local. On Crete confined mainly to the

west, not common.

Flowering time:- Apr-May

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis