MYOSOTIS INCRASSATA

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

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:-

a) 5-20 cm.

b) ascending to erect.

c) often much-branched at the base.

d) with spreading appressed hairs at the base.

Leaves:-

a) with hairs forwards pointing.

1) Basal:

a) 4 x 1 cm.

2) Cauline:

a) smaller.

b) ovate-lance-shaped.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence:

a) with numerous flowers; the stalks (pedicels) club-shaped (clavate) in fruit,

thickened towards apex.

2) Calyces:

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

often deciduous.

3) Corolla:

a) Limb, up to 3 mm diam.

b) saucer-shaped.

c) blue, rarely white.

d) tube shorter than the calyx.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets:

a) up to 1·2 mm.

b) brown.

c) without a rim.

d) attachment-area with 2 marginal grooves.

Key features:-

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

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