Myosotis  laxa Lehm. = Myosotis  laxa ssp. caespitosa (С. F. Schultz) Hyl. ех Nordh.

Myosotis  laxa Lehm., PI. Asperif. (1818) 83; Grau, Merxmuller, Fl. Eur., Ill (1972) 116; M. lingulata Lehm. op. c., 110, nom. nud.; Hayek, Prodr. Fl. Peains. Balc., II (1928) 75 — Туфеста незабравка

Fam:  BORAGINACEAE   JUSS.  -  Borage Family

Genus:  Myosotis  L. -  Forget-me-not   

Species: Myosotis  laxa Lehm. = Myosotis  laxa ssp. caespitosa (С. F. Schultz) Hyl. ех Nordh.

English Name:  Tufted Forget-me-not,  Bay Forget-me-not, Small-flowered Forget-me-not

Description: 

Growing form: Annual or biennial herb. Height: 10–40 cm (4–16 in.). Stem limp–erect, branched, hair growing upwards flush with stem, base rooting.

Flower: Regular (actinomorphic), 3–5 mm (0.12–0.2 in.) wide. Corolla light blue or white, fused, almost wheel-shaped, 5-lobed, protuberances in throat of tube. Calyx fused, campanulate (bell-shaped), 5-lobed, lobed till around halfway, lobes narrowly triangular; hairs flush with calyx; Calyx 3–8 mm (0.12–0.32 in.) long in fruiting stage. Stamens 5, filaments fused with calyx-tube. Gynoecium fused, single-styled, body shorter than calyx. Inflorescence a scorpioid cyme, extending to become racemose; flowers usually without subtending bracts. Flower-stalk hair flush with surface, after flowering 2–3 times as long as calyx.

Leaves: Basal leaves short-stalked, stalk winged, stem leaves alternate, almost stalkless. Blade narrowly lanceolate–narrowly spatulate, with entire margin, underside almost glabrous, bristle-haired on top.

Fruit: 4-parted schizocarp. Mericarps egg-shaped, brown, 1.5–2 mm (0.06–0.08 in.) long.

Habitat: Shores, ditches, damp meadows. Sometimes submerged in rivers.

Flowering time: June–August.

The sky-blue flowers of forget-me-nots (Myosotis spp.) are familiar to everyone. The genus’s other markers are e.g. a scorpioid inflorescence that lacks subtending bracts, and glabrous, glossy carpels. There are around 50 forget-me-not species altogether, 9 of which grow in Finland.

Tufted forget-me-not thrives best in damp habitats where the vegetative cover has gaps: ditch-sides, boat harbours and other open places suit it wonderfully well. It is especially happy in decomposing seaweed piles. Tufted forget-me-not has a subspecies (ssp. baltica), which is an annual that grows limply with long nodes on the Åland Islands and the south-western Finnish archipelago. It thrives best in shoreside meadows and on rocky outcrops, and can stand a slightly higher amount of salt than its close relative water forget-me-not (M. scorpioides), which also grows by the sea.

Tufted forget-me-not and water forget-me-not can be confused with each other because both favour the same damp habitats. Tufted forget-me-not however lacks a rootstock, its stem is always round, its flower is smaller and its calyx lobes are narrowly triangular.

Kasviatlas 2008, University of Helsinki.

There are two subspecies:

Subsp. laxa. - it is not discovered in Bulgaria,

Subsp. caespitosa (С. F. Schultz) Hyl. ех Nordh., - it is growing in Bulgaria

Flowering Time:  June  -  July 

Distribution in Bulgaria: 

These plants are growing around streams and rivers on damp places in low lands and mountains from sea level up to 1500 m altitude.

They may be seen in all appropriate floristic regions in Bulgaria.

Distribution:  Europe, Asia, North America

Conservation status and threats:  not protected species in Bulgaria by theBiodiversity Law. Законодателство на Република България: Закон за биологичното разнообразие. 

Medical plant: it is not medical plant in Bulgaria. http://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2134916096

Origin:  Kasviatlas 2008, University of Helsinki,  „Флора на НР България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989) 

1.                       2.

  Myosotis laxa ssp. caespitosa 1.   Myosotis loxa ssp. caespitosa 2.