MYOSOTIS INCRASSATA

Family and Genus:- See- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Myosotis pusilla subsp. incrassata.

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

botanist Dioscorides.

Incrassata (L) Very thick, made stout.

General description:- Annual, covered with straight, bristle-shaped hairs.

Stem:-

1) 5-20 cm, ascending to erect, often much-branched at the base, with spreading

appressed hairs at the base.

Leaves:-

1) With hairs forwards pointing.

2) Basal, 4 x 1 cm.

3) Cauline, smaller, ovate-lanceolate.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, with numerous flowers, pedicels, clavate, in fruit, thickened

towards the apex.

2) Calyces, in 2 regular rows when in fruit, usually pointing upwards, rarely

appressed, often deciduous.

3) Corolla, saucer-shaped, blue, rarely white.

a) Limb, up to 3 mm diam.

b) tube, shorter than the calyx.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, up to 1·2 mm, brown, without a rim, attachment-area with 2 marginal

grooves.

Key features:-

1) Calyces, in fruit rarely appressed, less than 3 mm and not crowded.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry, sandy habitats, rocky flats, fallow fields, open grassland 0-1200 m.

Distribution:- Most of Greece, but rare in the west and far NE. C & E

Mediterranean area from Italy and Sicily to S Anatolia. Limited distribution on Crete

confined mainly to the four massifs.

Flowering time:- Mar to mid-June.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis