Myosotis arvensis (L.) Hill, Field Forget-me-not
Account Summary
Introduction, archaeophyte, occasional or local. Eurosiberian boreo-temperate, but very widely naturalised, including in N America and New Zealand.
1881; Stewart, S.A.; Co Fermanagh.
April to November.
Growth form and preferred habitats
Usually a slender, erect winter-annual, 15-30(-60) cm tall, rough with spreading hairs, that germinates in the autumn and overwinters as a small leafy rosette, M. arvensis can also sometimes behave as a summer annual or as a biennial. It may very occasionally be confused with smaller specimens of the (usually) perennial, native or garden introduction, M. sylvatica (Wood Forget-me-not), particularly on waste-ground, on dumps and near gardens, from which the latter occasionally escapes. Apart from the generally smaller, more concave corolla of M. arvensis, the most satisfactory distinguishing character in the field is the appressed (closed) calyx of freshly picked (ie undried, unpressed specimens) of M. arvensis, which conceals the seeds, while that of M. sylvatica is open (erecto-patent) in both fresh and dried specimens, exposing the seeds to view (A.J. Silverside & T.C.G. Rich, in: Rich & Jermy 1998).
M. arvensis is a weedy ruderal annual of open, moderately fertile, fairly dry conditions in a wide range of soils of pH<5.0, in situations where it is protected from heavy grazing and strong levels of competition. It appears locally as scattered individuals on disturbed or otherwise open, sunny, warm, dry or well-drained, sandy, gravelly or stony soils throughout B & I (Grime et al. 1988, 2007). Other habitats include woodland margins, open grassland, hedges, scrub, walls, quarries and waste ground (D. Welch, in: Preston et al. 2002).
Previously it was a familiar agricultural weed of both arable fields and grasslands, the nutlets being a regular contaminant of commercial pasture clover and grass seed mixtures (Salisbury 1964). As a result of progress in agricultural technology and practices, including the massive move from hay towards pasture and silage meadows, better seed screening and the use of agrochemicals, this field weed has greatly declined in frequency and contracted slightly in its distribution. It remains mainly as a weed of agricultural land, particularly found in England in cereal crops (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).
Variation
M. arvensis is rather variable and two subspecies and two varieties of one of them exist. Subsp. arvensis has a calyx not more than 5 mm in fruit, and a small corolla up to 3 mm across. Two varieties of this subspecies are recognised, var. arvensis is a small form, usually with a solitary stem up to 15 cm tall, and is the crop weed form, definitely introduced; var. dumetorum is larger, up to 30 cm tall, often with numerous long branches from the base, equalling the central stem. It appears in more natural, often sandy places and just might be a native plant.
The second subspecies is subsp. umbrata (Mert, & W.D.J. Koch) O. Schwarz which has a larger calyx, up to 7 mm in fruit and corolla 3-5 mm across. The distribution of this form in B & I is not known, but it appears to be widespread and is said to be confined to W Europe (Sell & Murrell 2009).
Flowering reproduction
As a ruderal annual, M. arvensis reproduces exclusively by seed, flowering in springtime from April to July and setting seed from as early as May onwards. M. arvensis fulfils all the properties of a ruderal or 'agrestal' species – the latter being ruderal weeds that enter agricultural land; they possess small size, sparse branching, rapid growth and a short life-cycle, plus early and prolific seed reproduction, very often involving self-fertilisation. Ruderal species are associated with or confined to habitats characterised by low-stress, often nitrogen-enriched and greatly altered by high levels of human disturbance. The term 'ruderal' is derived from the Latin 'ruderis' meaning 'rubble' (Baker 1965; Grime et al. 1988, 2007).
The inflorescence is a terminal bract-less coiled (scorpioid) cyme of bisexual flowers. The calyx is shorter than the pedicel, covered with hooked spreading hairs, its teeth longer than its tube. The corolla is small, c 3-5 mm in diameter, pink in bud, then pale sky-blue with an orange-yellow eye at the throat when fully open, 5-lobed, the lobes concave rather than flat (Webb 1977; Sell & Murrell 2009).
M. arvensis flowers freely and sets seed abundantly. Salisbury (1964, p. 170) estimated a large plant would produce between 1500 and 3000 nutlets, which are sometimes released as a unit, in fours contained within the calyx. Normally it behaves as a winter annual, seed shed in summer showing delayed germination until the autumn. Seed appears to be highly mobile, successful dispersal being both internal in the guts of cattle and horses, and external by attachment to humans and the furry coats of passing animals thanks to the roughly hairy calyx that often contains the nutlets and acts like a burr (Ridley 1930; Salisbury 1964). Seeds are also persistent in the soil seed bank for five or more years, which is particularly significant on arable land, but also important in occasionally disturbed wayside habitats (Grime et al. 1988, 2007; Thompson et al. 1997).
Fermanagh occurrence

In Fermanagh around 2012, habitats and frequency range from rarely in gravelly screes, limestone pavement and pastures, to more frequently in cultivated or disturbed ground, including potato fields, gardens, car parks, quarries, waste or derelict ground (eg old disused railway stations), roadsides and near habitation. It is now regarded as occasional in Fermanagh, the plant having been recorded in 80 tetrads (15.2% of the VC total), although only 68 of them have post-1975 records. Despite this, the tetrad distribution map demonstrates that Field Forget-me-not remains scattered widely across the VC, and reflecting past agricultural land use, it remains slightly more frequent in the more fertile agricultural lowlands of the Erne basin. It is believed that the species distribution has been maintained by a combination of seed longevity and its flexible ruderal life-history.
British and Irish occurrence
Despite its weedy behaviour, M. arvensis has traditionally and over very many years been regarded a native species in all published Floras in these isles including Stace (1997). The publication of the BSBI New Atlas in 2002 and a subsequent revising paper in 2004 have now declared Field Forget-me-not to be an ancient introduction or archaeophyte (Preston et al. 2002, 2004).
Field Forget-me-not is a very widespread species across Britain except on the high ground and acid peatlands of NW Scotland. In Ireland, although in the past it has been recorded in every VC (Scannell & Synnott 1987), it is more frequent in the eastern half of the island, becoming more thinly scattered or absent in the west (New Atlas). The species is seldom if ever abundant nowadays, but any decline has been in numbers, rather than in distribution (Braithwaite et al. 2006).
European and world occurrence
Like other species widely spread beyond its native range by agriculture, the native range of M. arvensis is now impossible to accurately discern. It now ranges across all of Europe, W & C Asia and N Africa, but probably originated somewhere in S & SE of Europe. It spread as an impurity with commercial crop and grass seed over large areas of W, C & N Europe (including W Greenland & Iceland) and E Asia (Japan), and was also introduced to N America and New Zealand (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1552).
Names
At the end of the 16th century, Gerard (1597) knew no English names for the three species of Myosotis for which he gave the first English records, M. palustris, M. arvensis and M. hispida. Since the cyme inflorescences of these three species are coiled, they were placed with and confused with the leguminous plant Scorpiurus sulcata from S Europe, and all four were named 'Scorpion Grass'. The legume was identified with the skorpioeides in the De Materia Media of Dioscorides, who likened 'the fruit', the coiled pod, to a scorpion's tail. Thus 'Scorpion Grass' became linked to the various kinds of Myosotis in B & I as an English book name for centuries (Grigson 1955, 1987).
Three other English common names are listed by Brittain & Holland 1886), 'Bird's-eye' (or 'Bird's-eyes'), 'Forget-me-not' and 'Blue Mouse-ear'. 'Bird's-eye' is one of the most generally used plant names, usually applied to plants with small, bright, often blue flowers, such as Anagallis arvensis (Scarlet or Blue Pimpernel), Sagina procumbens (Procumbent Pearlwort), Veronica chamaedrys (Germander Speedwell), etc., plus numerous Myosotis species (Prior 1879; Brittain & Holland 1886).
'Forget-me-not' likewise is applied to several species other than Myosotis species, including Ajuga chamaepitys (Ground-pine) and Veronica chamaedrys. It is claimed that 'Forget-me-not' was applied to V. chamaedrys on account of the fused petals and stamens falling off and blowing away (Prior 1879, p. 84). Prior provides a very detailed account of the various applications and derivations of the 'Forget-me-not' name. He suggests the reason the name was given to A. chamaepitys was on account of the nauseous taste of the plant when used in herbal medicine, so it was unlikely to be forgotten! The name was exclusively applied to this plant by many herbalists from the mid 15th century onwards (Prior 1879, p. 83).
'Mouse-ear' is applied to just about any species with conspicuous long hairs on smallish leaves, including Cerastium triviale (= C. fontanum subsp. vulgare), Common Mouse-ear, or Mouse-ear Chickweed; Hieracium pilosella (= Pilosella officinarum), Mouse-ear-hawkweed; Myosotis arvensis (Blue Mouse-ear); and Sisymbrium thaliana (= Arabidopsis thaliana), Codded Mouse-ear (a book name), or Thale Cress (Brittain & Holland 1886).
Threats
None.