MYOSOTIS ARVENSIS
Common Names:- Field forget-me-not, Common forget-me-not.
Homotypic synonyms:- Myosotis scorpioides var. Arvensis, Myosotis
scorpioides subsp. arvensis.
Meaning:- Myosotis (Gr) Derived from the Ancient Greek words myos (mouse) and
otis (ear). It directly references the small, fuzzy, rounded leaves of the plant, which
closely resemble a mouse's ear.
Vulgare (L): A Latin word meaning "common," "ordinary," or
"widespread
General description:- A small, herbaceous annual or biennial plant, featuring
patent-hairy stems, small grey-blue flowers (3-5 mm across), and hooked calyx
hairs.
Stems:-
1) Reaching heights of 10-40 cm, erect or ascending, branching heavily from the
base. Covered in soft, patent hairs at roughly right angles to the stem.
Leaves:-
1) Simple, entire margins, and arranged alternately.
2) Basal, forming a lax rosette and possess short stalks, while
3) Upper cauline, sessile, lanceolate to oblong, and softly hairy.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, in a terminal, bractless, coiled scorpioid cyme.
2) Calyx, tubular, shorter than or equal to the fruiting pedicel, covered in spreading,
hooked hairs that act like a burr.
a) teeth, longer than the tube and remaining erect to enclose the ripening fruit.
3) Corolla, small (3-5 mm diam), saucer-shaped, starting pink in bud before
transitioning to a pale greyish-blue, featuring a prominent orange-yellow
eye.(annulus) at the throat.
4) Stamens, 5, enclosed within the corolla tube.
5) Superior ovary developing into a 4-lobed structure.
Fruit:-
1) A schizocarp splitting into four distinct single-seeded nutlets contained within the
persistent calyx.
2) Nutlets, smooth, ovate, dark brown to black, and glossy/shiny.
Distinguishing features:-
1) Flowers, tiny, 3 to 5 mm wide. varieties.
2) Calyx hairs, hooked.
3) Leaves and stems, the narrow, lance-shaped leaves and upright stems feel soft
and downy owing to the fine hairs.
Toxicity:- Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), which are natural chemical
compounds that can cause liver toxicity if ingested in large amounts.
Habitat:- Thrives in open, disturbed, and well-drained habitats such as cultivated
fields, roadsides, waste ground, and dry grasslands.
Distribution:- Native across Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Siberia, the western
Himalayas, and northwestern Africa, and it is widely naturalized in temperate
regions globally. British Isles, recorded as a common archaeophyte that is
widespread and abundant throughout Britain and Ireland.
Flowering time:- Typically April through October.
Status:- Recorded as a common archaeophyte that is widespread and abundant
throughout Britain and Ireland.
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