[Forget-me-nots: The Genus Myosotis in The Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington]

Woodland Forget-me-not, Wood Forget-me-not, Woods Forget-me-not

Myosotis sylvatica

The photo above shows a close-up of the flower and leaf of woods forget-me-not as seen along the old gorge highway about one mile east of Crown Point in the western Columbia River Gorge........April 15, 2006. Note the long, spreading hairs along the margin of the leaf blade and along the major veins on the underside of the leaf.

The photo at right shows a close-up of the pedicel and calyx of woods forget-me-not as seen east of Crown Point in the western Columbia River Gorge. Note the numerous appressed to slightly spreading hairs on both the pedicel and calyx.

Characteristics:

Woods forget-me-not is a fairly attractive and easy to grow perennial with several to many stems arising from 5-40 cm high from fibrous roots. Plants tend to have numerous spreading to appressed hairs on the leaves and stems. The petiolate basal leaves are oblanceolate to elliptic in shape and measure up to 13 cm long and up to 13 mm wide. The smaller, less numerous stem leaves are sessile, oblong to lance-ellpitic in shape, and rarely over 6 cm long.

The inflorescence consists of racemes at the tips of the branches. These are at first densely flowered, but the flowers become more widely spaced as they near the end of their bloom. The spreading or ascending pedicels are about equal to or longer than the calyx, which is 3-5 mm long. Each calyx is covered both with long, straigh hairs that are either spreading or appressed as well as some spreading, hooked hairs. The calyx lobes are noticeably longer than the calyx tube. The corolla is blue or rarely white with the limb flat and measuring about 4-8 mm wide. The dark to black nutlets extend beyond the style when mature.

Habitat:

Woods forget-me-not may be found in disturbed places along forest roads or moist forest clearings.

Range:

A European species, woods forget-me-not has become established over much of western North America from Alaska south through British Columbia to Washington and Oregon and east in the mountains to central Idaho, northern Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota.

In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found between the elevations of 100'-1300' from Crown Point east to Multnomah Falls.

A close-up of the flower of woodland forget-me-not. As flowers are pollinated, the small ring at the center of the flower changes from white to yellow.

Although not readily apparent here, the inflorescence of this species and other members of its family open in a helicoid or scorpioid fashion, in other words, the young inflorescence is coiled and unfurls and elongates as the flowers mature and open.

Note the long, spreading hairs around the margin of the leaf.

The photo above shows the dense covering of spreading hairs to be found along the stems amongst the uppermost leaves and directly beneath the inflorescence of woods forget-me-not.

The inflorescence of woodland forget-me-not.

An example of the attractive but "weedy" woodland forget-me-not as seen in Gresham, OR.......May 5, 2009.

Paul Slichter