CHANGING FORGET-ME-NOT |
MYOSOTIS DISCOLOR |
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| Fig 1 |
DESCRIPTION: Height up to 20cm. A beautifully delicate little Forget-Me-Not with a tall hairy stem that gives rise to a long leafless inflorescence that bears tiny 2mm wide flowers. Note should be taken of the hairs on the stem which are spreading below but more or less adpressed above. The aforementioned flowers have petals that are delicate yellow when young turning to a gentle powder blue with maturity. They are contained in a curly haired calyx that is longer than the flower stalk. The corolla tube is twice the length of the calyx. DISTRIBUTION: Widespread and frequent. HABITAT: Has a preference for dry open sandy soil and is frequent along the coast. FLOWERING TIME: May to June. FURTHER INFO: There a few legends explaining why Forget-Me-Nots are so called one of which says that when God was handing out colours to all the flowers he created one tiny flower shouted out 'Forget Me Not Oh Lord' and so was given the only remaining colour left, a small amount of blue. The whole plant is an astringent and can be used to help certain eyes problems. The leaves can be added to a salad but only in tiny amounts due to the plant containing high levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids which can cause liver damage. |