MYOSOTIS CONGESTA

Family and Genus:- See- BORAGINACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic 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:-

1) Not more than 25 cm, usually small and slender, often branched at the base.

a) hairs, patent, below, appressed above; those on the pedicels often patent.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, up to 4 cm, lanceolate, obtuse.

2) Cauline, ovate-lanceolate.

a) upper acute.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, not leafy at the base, many-flowered, always blue lax below,

dense above.

2) Pedisels, shorter than the calyx in fruit.

3) Calyx, up to 3 mm in fruit, deciduous, with soft deflexed, hooked hairs.

4) Corolla, not more than 2 mm c. 1·3 mm diam, saucer-shaped, pale yellow or

cream at first, becoming pink, violet or even blue.

a) tube, pale blue to dark violet.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, 1 x 0·5 mm, 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.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

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