The Wood Forget-me-not was @SpeciesofUK from
24th to 30th March, 2014.
Forget-me-nots
are flowering plants from the Myosotis
genus. There are about two hundred species in all.[1]
In the
UK, the name forget-me-not most often refers to Myosotis sylvatica, the 'wood forget-me-not'.[2]
.jpg) |
| Wood Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © Joshua Mayer] |
Wood forget-me-not is a UK and European native.[3]
It is
widespread throughout most of the UK although locally it can be rare. It’s
absent from northern Scotland.[4]
Wood
forget-me-not likes plenty of moisture and is very tolerant of shade. It
thrives along stream beds, rocky grassland and in wet woodlands.[5]
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| Forest Floor of Wood Forget-me-nots [Flickr Creative Commons © Joshua Mayer] |
Wood forget-me-not
is a common garden escapee. If it's found outside of its typical native
habitat, it's probably escaped from a garden.[6]
In fact,
forget-me-not has spread so well from gardens that escapees have almost
completely disrupted the natural, native distribution, both in the UK and
elsewhere.[7]
As a
result of human activity, wood forget-me-not has spread out of its native
European range, into temperate regions around the world.[8]
 |
| Wood Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © Joshua Mayer] |
The name ‘forget-me-not’ appears in many languages.
The name ‘forget-me-not’
originates as a loan from the Old French ‘ne m'oubliez mye.’ Wearing the flower
was supposed to ensure you were not forgotten by your lover.[9]
 |
| Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © AnneTanne] |
Many
other languages borrowed the same name from the French. For example, German Vergißmeinnicht, Swedish forgätmigej, Hungarian nefelejcs, and Czech nezabudka.[10]
As well
as the wood forget-me-not, other forget-me-nots in the UK include the early
forget-me-not, changing forget-me-not, water forget-me-not and field
forget-me-not.[11]
Wood forget-me-not is a shortish, softly hairy
plant with distinctive flowers.
Wood forget-me-not
is a biennial or perennial. It returns each year to form an expanding clump and it flowers in its second spring.[12]
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| Clump of Wood Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © Joshua Mayer] |
The stems
of wood forget-me-not become highly branched as the plant grows, with spreading
hairs.[13]
Generally
wood forget-me-not is short, but it can grow up to half a metre in height at
times.[14]
 |
| Wood Forget-me-not can grow tall [Flickr Creative Commons © Camelia TWU] |
Wood forget-me-not
has narrow, oval leaves.[15]
 |
| Wood Forget-me-not Leaves [Flickr Creative Commons © NjuTIKA] |
Wood forget-me-not
forms clusters of tiny simple 5-petaled flowers. They are a soft sky blue with
yellow centres.[16]
 |
| Wood Forget-me-not Flowers [Flickr Creative Commons © Joshua Mayer] |
The
flowers are notable for being almost completely flat.[17]
This can help distinguish it from the 'field forget-me-not,' M. arvensis, which has much smaller and
concave flowers.[18]
 |
| Flat Flowers of Wood Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © mako] |
Wood forget-me-not
flowers from April to June, with the first flowers appearing at the end of
March.[19]
Wood forget-me-not
has distinctively hooked 'calyx' (sepal) hairs.[20]
 |
| Calyx of Wood Forget-me-not [Wikimedia Commons © Robert Matthews] |
The
mature fruit of wood forget-me-not is dark brown and shiny.
 |
| Fruit of Wood Forget-me-not [Wikimedia Commons © Robert Matthews] |
As well as the wood forget-me-not, the UK is home
to several other forget-me-not species.
The 'early
forget-me-not', M. ramosissima, is
covered completely in white hairs and has sky-blue flowers which appear from
April.[21]
 |
| Early Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © Kari Pihlaviita] |
The
'changing forget-me-not', M. discolor,
is quite tall and slender. Its flower is creamy-white or yellow, turning blue
later.[22]
 |
| Changing Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © --Tico--] |
The 'field
forget-me-not’, M. arvensis, grows
upright on open ground.[23]
Unlike wood forget-me-not which has flat sky-blue flowers, field forget-me-not
flowers are grey-blue, tiny and saucer-shaped.[24]
 |
| Field Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © laurent subra] |
The ‘water
forget-me-not’, M. scorpioides, as
befits its name, grows in boggy places and beside streams. It is also known
as 'scorpion grass' due to the
spiraling curve of its inflorescence.[25]
 |
| Scorpion Grass [Flickr Creative Commons © Brian Stalter] |
Forget-me-nots have a rich history in mythology and
tradition.
The
Scottish poet William McGonagall wrote a poem called ‘Forget-me-not’ in which
he immortalised one of the legends of the flower's origin.[26]
For when he tried to swim across,
All power of his body he did loss,
But before he sank in the river wide,
He flung the flowers to his lovely bride.
All power of his body he did loss,
But before he sank in the river wide,
He flung the flowers to his lovely bride.
Then she wrung her hands in wild
despair,
Until her cries did rend the air;
And she cried, 'Edwin, dear, hard is our lot,
But I'll name this flower Forget-me-not.
Until her cries did rend the air;
And she cried, 'Edwin, dear, hard is our lot,
But I'll name this flower Forget-me-not.
There is
a German origin-story for the name too. According to German legend, God named
all the plants when a tiny unnamed one cried out, "Forget-me-not, O
Lord!" God replied, "That shall be your name."[27]
 |
| Lonesome Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © Tobias] |
In parts
of England, it used to be believed that forget-me-nots protected against
witches, particularly in the month of May when it was strongly in flower.[28]
 |
| Forget-me-not [Flickr Creative Commons © Jürgen Mangelsdorf] |
It was
also said that the juice of the forget-me-not could enhance the sharpness of
steel so that it could cut through stone.[29]
The
English king, Henry IV, loved the forget-me-not. He adopted it as his emblem in
exile in 1398 and made it a royal emblem when he returned to England in 1399.[30]
Strange but true…
One of
wood forget-me-not’s relatives, the alpine forget-me-not, Myosotis Alpestris, is both the county
flower of Westmorland and the State flower of Alaska.[31]
 |
| Alpine Forget-me-not [Wikimedia Commons © Tigerente] |
[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis
[2] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis
[3] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis
[4] http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/wood-forget-me-not
[5] http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/Wildflower.asp?ID=74; http://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/index.php?q=node/1656
[8] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis
[9] http://m.dictionary.com/etymology/forget-me-not?linkid=8uxrdf&srcpage=definition&site=dictwap
[10] http://m.dictionary.com/etymology/forget-me-not?linkid=8uxrdf&srcpage=definition&site=dictwap
[11] http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/F/Forgetmenot(Early)/Forgetmenot(Early).htm
[12] http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/Wildflower.asp?ID=74; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis_sylvatica
[15] http://www.cumbriawildflowers.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=90
[16] http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/Wildflower.asp?ID=74;
http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/wood-forget-me-not; http://www.cumbriawildflowers.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=90
[18] http://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/boraginaceae/myosotis-arvensis.htm
[19] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis_sylvatica
[20] http://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/boraginaceae/myosotis-sylvatica.htm
[21] http://wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/F/Forgetmenot(Early)/Forgetmenot(Early).htm
[22] http://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/boraginaceae/myosotis-discolor.htm
[23] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis_arvensis
[24] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis_arvensis
[25] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forget-me-not
[26] http://www.gardenguides.com/83414-history-forget-not-flowers.html; http://www.taynet.co.uk/users/mcgon/forgetno.htm
[27] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis
[28] http://www.gardenguides.com/83414-history-forget-not-flowers.html
[29] http://www.gardenguides.com/83414-history-forget-not-flowers.html
[30] http://www.gardenguides.com/83414-history-forget-not-flowers.html
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