Forget-me-nots

Water lilies are the most popular aquatic plants in biological pools, as they are the best known and always have the largest flowers. But it’s worth looking at smaller species, sometimes a little hidden among other plants on the banks.

Forget-me-nots of the genus Myosotis, for example. Many already know them by name, but do they know how to identify the plant?

They are small, not larger than thirty centimeters, with many small, bright green leaves that, when viewed under a magnifying glass, are covered in hairs. This is typical of the Boraginaceae family, to which Myosotis and borage belong, an edible plant that is sometimes grown in gardens. Like borage, Forget-me-nots have simple blue flowers with 5 petals, very beautiful. Flowering is prolonged: it begins in spring and lasts until summer.

In Portugal there are about a dozen species of them, half of which live in humid environments, along the banks of streams, ponds and lakes. If, next time, we pass by a habitat like this or by the edge of a biological pool, it’s worth going to look for these beautiful little plants, so that the Forget-me-nots don’t get forgotten.