Myosotis exarrhena
F.Muell. Sweet Forget-me-notPerennial herb, 20–50 cm high, usually erect; branches with dense spreading hairs. Leaves densely hairy, apex acute or obtuse, margins flat; rosette leaves obovate to oblanceolate or oblong, 3.5–10 cm long, 3–13 mm wide; cauline leaves lanceolate. Inflorescence axis with appressed antrorse hairs. Flowers on pedicels to c. 3 mm long; sepals 3.5–6 mm long, acute, connate in basal third, elongating with age, lower parts covered densely with hooked hairs; corolla (3–)6–11(–13) mm long, exceeding the sepals, glabrous, white or pale blue, tube usually only slightly longer than lobes; stamens projecting 1–7 mm from corolla-tube; style projecting 1–10 mm from corolla-tube. Mericarps c. 2 mm long, pale to dark brown. Flowers Oct.–Apr.
VVP, VRiv, Gold, CVU, NIS, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, OtR, MonT, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT, Tas. Primarily a plant of moist montane habitats of eastern Victoria, but with a few isolated western records including an old (pre-1910) collection simply labelled 'Wimmera'.
A variable species, particularly in terms of flower size and shape and the degree of exsertion of the stamens from the corolla-tube. A small-flowered form with corollas 3–5 mm long has been collected in East Gippsland. A form with an exceptionally long corolla-tube (to c. 10 mm) and short lobes (to c. 3 mm) has been collected at a number of high-altitude sites in eastern Victoria.
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Boraginaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 387–411. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning