Wood Forget-me-not - Myosotis sylvatica

Description

Short to medium softly hairy plant. Stems much branched with spreading hairs. Flowers bright sky blue, relatively large 6 to 10 mm on slender stalks in lax cymes. Calyx with a few spreading hooked hairs in the lower half, open in fruit.

Similar Species

Myosotis arvensis

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Perennial or annual; calyx hairs sticking out and either hooked or curved; corolla 8mm across or less, and with a flat 'limb'; calyx teeth erecto-patent and exposing ripe nutlets

Recording advice

Photograph of flowers (side-on) and note of flower-size

Habitat

Damper woods.

When to see it

April to July.

Life History

Biennial or perennial.

UK Status

Widespread but rather local in distribution in Britain, absent from northern Scotland.

VC55 Status

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 70 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Wood Forget-me-not
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Family:
Boraginaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
116
First record:
01/05/2006 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
25/04/2024 (Alton, John)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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