Boraginaceae

Borage family

From Streeter et al., 2016, 'Family Key':

"Flowers regular; petals and sepals joined.

Mostly roughly hairy or bristly herbs; leaves usually simple, alternate, without stipules; sepals 5; petals 5; stamens 5; ovary superior, deeply 4-lobed (the flowers of Echium are slightly irregular)."

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 029

Date: 10 Jun 2024

Locality: Page Hill, Buckingham

Location (Lat/Long): 52.003, -0.973

Landscape/habitat: Between a footpath and a fence, in an alleyway.

Identification notes: I recognised this flower as a Forget-me-not Myostis, however it was harder to determine the species.

From Streeter et al. (2016, p.375) there is a key to Myostis:

'Hairs on calyx tube short, stiff, spreading, hooked' (they looked hooked to me, shown in image in gallery below)
'style shorter than calyx tube'
'Lower surface of leaves without hooked hairs'
I could not determine the size of the flower stalk at fruiting but the last choice of the key was between Wood Forget-me-not M. sylvatica or Field Forget-me-not M. arvensis. In terms of habitat, M. arvensis is found on 'Roadsides...disturbed ground' which seems similar. Also, the size of corolla is quite small pointing towards M. arvensis with a corolla '<=5 mm across' and I think the lobes look concave

Name: Field Forget-me-not, Myosotis arvensis

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References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.