Differentiating forget me nots (Myosotis spp.)

Myosotis can be a tricky genus! They all look very, very similar and it can take a while to get your eye in. it doesn't help that they can also be quite variable in size and form depending on their environment and how shady, exposed, nutrient rich, nutrient poor, dry or moist their environment.

So lets talk through them. We'll start with the two species of disturbed, early successional habitats, early forget me not Myosotis ramosissima and changing forget me not Myostis discolor.

These are both ephemeral therophyte annuals, meaning they are adapted to stressful, dry, hot and exposed environments in which they complete their lifecyce in spring before shrivelling away and living out the dry, parched summer of the continential east as seeds. Therophytes are key components of the assesmblage in dry, eastern grasslands and many coastal systems. Survey efforts that don't take in the April/May period WILL miss important members of the assemblage.

Early forget me not Myosotis ramosissima

Found on 10th May 2025 at Panshanger Park, a complex of restored gravel pits and old parkland between Welwyn Garden City and Hertford. A small annual therophyte of bare, sandy, chalky and stony open ground, it LOVES the gravel quarries and continental dry grasslands of East Anglia.

This is very similar to changing forget me not Myosotis discolor which is common around Welwyn Garden, but the identity of that one sticks out straight away via the yellow colour of its initial flowers, which is NOT a standard forget me not feature.

A good vibe check for this one is the fact it's corolla tube is shorter than the calyx (collective name for the ring of sepals enclosing the flower).

Translated into something non botanists can connect with, it has a tiny little flower and because the flower tube is very short it looks like it's kind of trapped within the sepals, which squash the petals making it look like the flower can never fully escape or open.

It looks like a hand is closed around it, squishing it!

From a distance (e.g stood up), this makes its flowers look like tiny blue flecks. In other species in this group, the flowers are still small but are more obvious from a distance. Like little jewels rather than flecks.

There's a close up showing what I mean on the last photo in the series.

The basal leaves tend to form a rosette and the sepals also have spreading hooked or curved hairs.

Post to follow on M. discolor.

Changing forget me not Myosotis discolor

Another early flowering, ephemeral therophyte of early successional sandy, gravelly sites.

Very similar to early (M. ramosissima), particularly in the leaf arrangement, but here you can clearly see how the flowers here have a slightly longer "corolla tube", allowing them to fully escape the sepals without the petals getting squashed.

The hairs are different too. Rather than being spread and curved, which in M. ramosissima creates a "fluffy" look, here they are apressed more closely against the sepals in a forward pointing manner.

Thus imparts an almost shiny, "silky" look, which also has the effect of making the sepal edges look lined with white highlighting.

And of course the mix up of colours between the traditional forget me not blue and the more unusual yellow/cream is the very reason for the species name.

Also a tiny species, this one also presents itself as being more slender and delicate than M. ramosissima and out of the two is my favourite.

As more flowers open, the inflorescence curls round in a really tight scorpioid shape which looks really striking!

#botany #ecology #plantID