Field and Woodland Plants

by William S. Furneaux

There is yet another marsh plant of the Labiatæ to be considered, and that is the Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris), which is very much like the Hedge Woundwort described on p. [199]. It has a stout, hollow, hairy stem, from one to three feet high; and narrow, coarsely-toothed leaves, from two to four inches long, the upper ones sessile and the lower shortly stalked. The flowers are pale purple or dull, light red, arranged in whorls of from six to ten in the axils of the upper leaves. The calyx is bell-shaped, with ten ribs and five long, acute teeth; and the lower lip of the corolla has its side lobes turned back.

The Forget-Me-Not.

We now reach the interesting Myosotis genus of the Boraginaceæ, containing the favourite Forget-me-not and the similar Scorpion-grasses. They are all rather low and weak plants, with small, sessile, narrow leaves; and small flowers in one-sided, curved racemes without bracts. The calyx is cleft into five; and the corolla has a short tube, partially closed by five little scales, and five spreading or concave lobes. The stamens are enclosed in the tubes of the flower. Three species are common in wet places. They are—

1. The Forget-me-not (Myosotis palustris).—An abundant plant, growing to a foot or more in height, and bearing, from June to August, bright blue flowers, nearly half an inch across, with a yellow centre. It has a creeping rootstock, with runners, and rather weak ascending stems clothed with spreading hairs. The leaves are blunt, and often covered with hairs that lie close against the surface. The calyx is divided to about a third of its length into short, triangular teeth, and is covered with closely-pressed hairs.

The Water Pepper or Biting Persicaria.

2. The Creeping Water Scorpion-grass (M. repens).—A very similar plant, sometimes regarded as a variety of the last. Its stock emits leafy runners above the ground, and the stem is more hairy. The flowers, too, are of about the same size, but of a sky-blue colour, and their stalks are longer, bending downwards when in fruit. The calyx is divided to about the middle into narrow teeth.

3. The Tufted Water Scorpion-grass (M. cæspitosa).—Also a similar plant, often regarded as a variety of M. palustris; but its flowers are only about half the size, of a sky-blue colour, with narrow calyx teeth almost as long as the corolla. It is of a paler green colour, and the stems are tufted by a free branching at the base.

All three of these flower at the same time, and grow in similar situations. Several intermediate forms occur, and thus it is often a difficult matter to distinguish between them.