Water Forget-Me-Not, Heeswijk, Netherlands
In dutch named the "Swamp forget-me-not" and the most common forget-me-not species found in forests here. I've been on an unexpectedly long journey to get this identified, and I'm still not 100% sure. So as a lesson learned when photographing a forget-me-not: the flowers by themselves are not enough for an identification.
Aspects of the plant that are needed for a reliable identification:
- Stem (can be rectangular or round, hairy or not)
- Flower, and how deep it lies
- Leafs, regarding shape, hair, and angle towards the stem.
- Obviously, a note on the habitat it grows in (garden, forest, near water, type of soil)
Whilst on the topic of forget-me-not, some background on the mythology regarding the name:
"In medieval times, a knight walks along a river with his love. Whilst picking some flowers from the woods, he fell into the river, unable to get out of it due to the weight of his armor. Whilst drowning, he throws the picked flowers to his love, saying "forget me not!". Allegedly, it became a symbol of eternal love.
Alternatively, a Greek legend describes God giving all plants a name. A small flower shouts: "I don't yet have a name, forget me not"! "That shall be your name, said God.
And finally a pop culture reference. Some of you may recognize the beat in this song from Will Smith's "Men in black", yet this is the original:
Myosotis scorpioides is a herbaceous perennial plant of the genus "Myosotis". It is native to Europe and Asia, but can be found elsewhere, including much of North America, as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.
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