''Myosotis discolor'' is a species of
forget-me-not
''Myosotis'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. The name comes from the Ancient Greek "mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the northern hemisphere they are colloquially known as forget-me-nots ...
known by the common name changing forget-me-not. It is native to Europe, and it can also be found throughout eastern and western North America, where it is an
introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
. It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas such as roadsides.
Description
It is a hairy annual or perennial herb growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall with a slender, sometimes branching, erect stem. The sparse linear, lance-shaped, or oblong leaves are up to 4 centimeters long and under a centimeter wide. They are coated in straight hairs. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is a coiled or curved array of tiny (less than 2mm) flowers at the top of the stem. The flowers are initially yellow or cream, changing to pink and then to blue as they mature, giving rise to the common name.
Gallery
Inflorescences
File:Myosotis discolor 3359.JPG, Tom McCall Preserve, Oregon
File:Changing Forget-me-not 600.jpg, Great Holland Pits, Essex, UK
File:Myosotis discolor eF.jpg, Unterfranken, Germany
File:Myosotis discolor P4332 v2.JPG, Parksville, BC
Flowers
File:Myosotis discolor.jpeg, Rügen, Germany
File:Myosotis discolor3 W.JPG, Unterfranken, Germany
Herbarium
File:Myosotis discolor Herbar.jpg
File:JEPS109351 Myosotis discolor (5553921710).jpg, University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California
Botanical illustrations
File:Myosotis versicolor Sturm16.jpg, Plate 16 in Joseph Sturm's ''Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen'' (1796), vol. 11
File:Myosotis versicolor — Flora Batava — Volume v8.jpg, Plate 631 in Flora Batava, vol. 8
File:Nsr-slika-223.png, Plate 223 in Martin Cilenšek's ''Naše škodljive rastline'' (1892)
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentBurke Museum ProfilePhoto gallery
discolor
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