MYOSOTIS LITORALIS

Family:- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Myosotis vernalis.

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

botanist Dioscorides.

Litoralis (L) Growing by the sea-shore.

General description:- Annual.

Stem:-

a) 2-7 cm.

b) procumbent.

c) often much-branched and forming a cushion.

Leaves:-

1) Lamina:

a) Narrowly tongue-shaped (lingulate).

b) somewhat club-shaped (clavate) at maturity.

c) thickly covered with straight hairs.

c) dark grey-green.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence:

a) ebracteate throughout.

b) stems (pedicels) 2·5 mm in fruit, uniformly thickened.

2) Calyx:

a) c. 3·5 mm.

b) very crowded in fruit, patent or appressed to the stem and pointing upwards.

3) Corolla:

a) Limb, up to 2 mm diam.

b) saucer-shaped.

c) pale blue to white.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets:

a) up to 1·2 mm.

b) without a rim; attachment-area with 2 marginal grooves.

c) brown.

Key features:-

1) Inflorescence ebracteate, or only the lowermost flowers in the axils of the bracts.

2) Calyces up to 3.5 mm in fruit, crowded and appressed to the stem.

Habitat:- Sandy coastal habitats, soil pockets in garigue, dolines. 0-1400 m.

Distribution:- Greece, W Anatolia, the Black Sea area and Crimea. First recorded

by Niels Bohling (2000) from Psiloritis and fhe Limnakaro plain. Rare on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-May

Photos by:- Steve Lenton