''Myosotis'' ( ) is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of flowering plants in the family

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the Borago, borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees, and herbs in 146 to 154 genus, genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single famil ...

. The name comes from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

"mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the Northern Hemisphere, they are colloquially known as forget-me-nots or scorpion grasses. '' Myosotis alpestris'' is the official flower of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and

Dalsland Dalsland () is a Swedish traditional province, or ''landskap'', situated in Götaland in southern Sweden. Lying to the west of Lake Vänern, it is bordered by Värmland to the north, Västergötland to the southeast, Bohuslän to the west, ...

, Sweden. Plants of the genus are not to be confused with

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...

' forget-me-nots, which belong to the related genus '' Myosotidium''.

Description

The genus was originally described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is '' Myosotis scorpioides''. ''Myosotis'' species are annual or

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

, herbaceous,

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s with penta merous actinomorphic flowers with five sepals and petals. Flowers are typically in diameter or less, flatly faced, coloured typically blue, but sometimes pink, white or yellow with yellow centres and borne on scorpioid cymes. Their foliage is alternate, and their

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

s are generally diffuse. They typically flower in spring or soon after the melting of snow in alpine ecosystems. Wald Vergissmeinnicht

The

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s are contained in small, tulip-shaped pods along the stem to the flower. The pods attach to clothing when brushed against and eventually fall off, leaving the small seed within the pod to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

elsewhere. Seeds can be collected by placing a sheet of paper under stems and shaking the seed pods onto the paper. '' Myosotis scorpioides'' is colloquially called scorpion grass because of the spiraling curvature of its inflorescence.

Distribution

The genus is largely restricted to western Eurasia, with over 60 confirmed species, and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with around 40 endemic species. A few species occur elsewhere, including North America, South America, and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Despite this, ''Myosotis'' species are now common throughout temperate latitudes because of the introduction of

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s and alien species. Many are popular in

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

. They prefer moist habitats. In locales where they are not native, they frequently escape to

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and riverbanks. One or two European species, especially '' Myosotis sylvatica'', the "woodland" forget-me-not, have been introduced into most of the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

regions of Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Genetic analysis indicates that the genus originated in the Northern Hemisphere, and that species native to New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, and South America form a lineage of closely related species that are likely derived from a single dispersal event to the Southern Hemisphere.

Ecology

Hover Fly feeding on forget-me-not flower 2

''Myosotis'' species are food for the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

species, including the setaceous Hebrew character. Many of the species in New Zealand are threatened.

Taxonomy

Of more than 510 recorded species names, only 156

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are presently accepted, listed below. The remainder are either synonyms or hybrids of presently accepted or proposed names. *'' Myosotis abyssinica'' Boiss. & Reut. *'' Myosotis afropalustris'' C.H. Wright *'' Myosotis albicans'' Riedl *'' Myosotis albiflora'' Banks & Sol. ex Hook.f. *'' Myosotis albosericea'' Hook.f. *'' Myosotis alpestris'' F.W.Schmidt (alpine forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis amabilis'' Cheeseman *'' Myosotis ambigens'' ( Bég.)

Grau The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

*'' Myosotis angustata'' Cheeseman *'' Myosotis anomala'' Riedl *'' Myosotis antarctica'' Hook.f. *'' Myosotis arnoldii'' L.B.Moore *'' Myosotis arvensis'' (L.)

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

(field forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis asiatica'' (Vestergr. ''ex'' Hultén) Schischk. & Serg. (Asiatic forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis atlantica'' Vestergr. *'' Myosotis australis'' R.Br. *'' Myosotis austrosibirica'' O.D.Nikif. *'' Myosotis azorica'' H.C.Watson (Azores forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis baicalensis'' O.D.Nikif. *'' Myosotis balbisiana'' Jord. *'' Myosotis × bohemica'' Domin *'' Myosotis × bollandica'' P.Jeps. *'' Myosotis bothriospermoides'' Kitag. *'' Myosotis brachypoda'' Gren. *'' Myosotis brevis'' de Lange & Barkla *'' Myosotis brockiei'' L.B.Moore & M.J.A.Simpson *'' Myosotis bryonoma'' Meudt, Prebble & Thorsen *'' Myosotis butorinae'' Stepanov *'' Myosotis × cadevallii'' *'' Myosotis cadmea'' Kitag *'' Myosotis cameroonensis''

Cheek The cheeks () constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. ''Buccal'' means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve. The area between the inside of th ...

& R.Becker *'' Myosotis capitata'' Hook.f. *'' Myosotis chaffeyorum'' Lehnebach *'' Myosotis chakassica'' O.D.Nikif. *'' Myosotis cheesemanii'' Petrie *'' Myosotis × cinerascens'' Petrie *'' Myosotis colensoi'' (

Kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term ''the Kirk'' is often used informally to refer specifically to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation ...

) J.F.Macbr. *'' Myosotis concinna'' Cheeseman *'' Myosotis congesta'' Shuttlew. *'' Myosotis corsicana'' (Fiori) Grau *'' Myosotis czekanowskii'' (Trautv.) Kamelin & V.N.Tikhom. *'' Myosotis daralaghezica'' T.N.Popova *'' Myosotis debilis'' Pomel *'' Myosotis decumbens'' Host *'' Myosotis densiflora'' *'' Myosotis diminuta'' Grau *'' Myosotis discolor'' Pers. (changing forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis densiflora'' C. Koch *'' Myosotis dissitiflora'' Baker *'' Myosotis dubia'' *'' Myosotis ergakensis'' Stepanov *'' Myosotis exarrhena'' F. Muell. *'' Myosotis eximia'' Petrie *'' Myosotis explanata'' Cheeseman *'' Myosotis forsteri'' Lehm. *'' Myosotis gallica'' Vestergr. *'' Myosotis galpinii'' C.H.Wright *'' Myosotis glabrescens'' L.B.Moore *'' Myosotis glauca'' ( G.Simpson & J.S.Thomson) de Lange & Barkla *'' Myosotis goyenii'' Petrie *'' Myosotis graminifolia'' DC. *'' Myosotis graui'' Selvi *'' Myosotis guneri'' A.P.Khokhr. *'' Myosotis heteropoda'' Trautv. *'' Myosotis hikuwai'' Meudt, Prebble & G.M.Rogers *'' Myosotis imitata'' Serg. *'' Myosotis incrassata'' Guss. *'' Myosotis jenissejensis'' O.D.Nikif. *'' Myosotis jordanovii'' N.Andreev & Peev *'' Myosotis × kablikiana'' *'' Myosotis kamelinii'' O.D.Nikif. *'' Myosotis kazakhstanica'' O.D.Nikif. *'' Myosotis kebeshensis'' Stepanov *'' Myosotis keniensis'' T.C.E.Fr. *'' Myosotis koelzii'' Riedl *'' Myosotis kolakovskyi'' A.P.Khokhr. *'' Myosotis × krajinae'' *'' Myosotis krasnoborovii'' O.D.Nikif. & Lomon. *'' Myosotis krylovii'' Serg. *'' Myosotis kurdica'' Riedl *'' Myosotis laeta'' Cheeseman *'' Myosotis laingii'' Cheeseman *'' Myosotis latifolia'' Poir. (broadleaf forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis laxa'' Lehm. (tufted forget-me-not or bay forget-me-not) *'' Myosotis lazica'' Popov *'' Myosotis lithospermifolia'' Hornem. *'' Myosotis lithuanica'' (Schmalh.) Besser ex Dobrocz. *'' Myosotis litoralis'' Steven ex M.Bieb. *'' Myosotis ludomilae'' Zaver. *'' Myosotis lyallii'' Hook.f. *'' Myosotis macrantha'' (Hook.f.)

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

Gallery

File:Myosotis scorpioides LC0184.jpg, '' Myosotis scorpioides'' File:Myosotis eximia Flowers MRD Otari.jpg, '' Myosotis eximia'' File:Myosotis colensoi.jpg, '' Myosotis colensoi'' File:Myosotis pulvinaris 2.jpg, '' Myosotis pulvinaris'' File:Myosotis pansa kz1.jpg, '' Myosotis pansa'' File:Blue forget-me-nots.jpg, ''Myosotis sylvatica'' File:P1050373 Alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris) in Kharta Chu side valley, Tibet Thu 20 July 2006.jpg, '' Myosotis alpestris''

Symbolism

The small, blue forget-me-not flower was first used by the

Grand Lodge A Grand Lodge, also called Grand Orient, Obedience, or by another similar title, is a name for the overarching governing body of a fraternal or other similarly organized group in a given area, usually a city, state, or country. In Freemasonry A ...

''Zur Sonne'', in 1926, as a Masonic emblem at the annual convention in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1938, a forget-me-not badge—made by the same factory as the Masonic badge—was chosen for the annual Nazi Party '' Winterhilfswerk'', the annual charity drive of the

National Socialist People's Welfare The National Socialist People's Welfare (, NSV) was a social welfare organization during the Third Reich. The NSV was originally established in 1931 as a small Nazi Party-affiliated charity, which was active locally in the city of Berlin. On 3 Ma ...

, the welfare branch of the Nazi party. This coincidence enabled Freemasons to wear the forget-me-not badge as a secret sign of membership. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the forget-me-not flower was used again as a Masonic emblem in 1948 at the first Annual Convention of the United Grand Lodges of Germany. The badge is now worn in the coat lapel by Freemasons around the world to remember all who suffered in the name of Freemasonry, especially those during the Nazi era. The flower is also used as a symbol of remembrance by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is used to commemorate those from the province who were killed in the First World War, and worn around July 1. It is also used in Germany to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the world wars in a similar manner to the use of remembrance poppies in the UK. The flower is also the symbol for the Armenian genocide's 100th anniversary. The design of the flower is a black dot symbolising the past, and the suffering of Armenian people. The light purple appendages symbolise the present, and unity of Armenians. The five purple petals symbolise the future, and the five continents to which Armenians escaped. The yellow in the centre symbolises eternity, and the

Tsitsernakaberd The Armenian Genocide Memorial complex (, ''Hayots tseghaspanutyan zoheri hushahamalir'', or Ծիծեռնակաբերդ, '' Tsitsernakaberd'') is Armenia's official memorial Armenian genocide recognition, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian g ...

itself symbolises the 12 provinces lost to Turkey. In

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, the flower has become one of the symbols for the commemoration of the

January events The January Events () were a series of violent confrontations between the civilian population of Lithuania, supporting independence, and the Soviet Armed Forces. The events took place between 11 and 13 January 1991, after the Act of the Re-Esta ...

of 1991. In the Netherlands, the forget-me-not has become a symbol for Alzheimer Nederland, a foundation advocating for people suffering from

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. In New Zealand, the forget-me-not is the symbol for Alzheimers New Zealand, the foundation advocating for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia. In the United Kingdom, many health settings make use of the forget-me-not as a symbol to highlight that someone has dementia; it may be placed on notes, bedsides or patient boards. Also in the United Kingdom, the forget-me-not is the symbol of the Alzheimer's Society. In the history of art, the forget-me-not is used to remember loved ones who have died, and so is very common in funerary portraits. Since the

Medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

it has become a symbol of everlasting love and devotion. There is a German legend set as an origin story behind the name "Forget-Me-Not". In the legend, a knight was walking with his lady near the

Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

and decided to pick blue flowers for her. While picking the flowers he fell in the river and was swept away. He tossed the flowers to his lady and his last words to her were "Forget-me-not!".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q147149 Boraginaceae genera Symbols of Alaska Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus