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Wood Forget-Me-Not

Wood Forget-Me-Not

Myosotis sylvatica

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How common: Common

Alien species

Wood Forget-Me-Not is a blue-flowered plant of woods, parks and gardens. It forms loose clumps of softly hairy stems topped with sky-blue flowers with a yellow eye. Native to European woodlands, it often escapes from plantings and lines paths and roadsides.

Did you know?

  • Flower buds often start pink and turn blue as they open, leaving a bright yellow eye.
  • Many garden forget-me-nots grown in borders are forms of this species.

About the species

Identification

Perennial, 20–50 cm tall. Upright, often much-branched stems are softly hairy. Leaves are hairy; lower ones have short stalks, upper ones sit on the stem; all are narrow oval with smooth edges. Flower clusters open from a curled tip. Flowers are bright blue or sometimes white, 6–8 mm across, with five petals and a small yellow eye. After flowering, four tiny smooth black seeds form. Compared with Water Forget-Me-Not, this species grows away from water, is usually taller and more branched; its flowers are larger than in Field Forget-Me-Not. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

herb-rich forest, yards and roadsides

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Grows in deciduous woods and edges, parks, gardens and along roadsides. Favors moist, fertile soils and light shade, but also tolerates sunny places. Common in southern Finland, rare northwards up to around Oulu.

Sources

Photo: Colin Meurk, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6130041414

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Laburnum-Luzula, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39428

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puistolemmikki

See also