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  4. Myosotis laxa subsp. caespitosa

Myosotis laxa subsp. caespitosa

Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 04/01/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 04/01/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 04/01/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Myosotis laxa subsp. caespitosa.<br>Photographer: Trevor James, Date taken: 30/11/2006, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Myosotis laxa subsp. caespitosa.<br>Photographer: Trevor James, Date taken: 26/10/2004, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Foliage of Myosotis laxa subsp. caespitosa.<br>Photographer: Trevor James, Date taken: 07/10/2004, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Taylor.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 28/12/2013, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Taylor.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 28/12/2013, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

water forget-me-not

Synonyms

Myosotis caespitosa CF Schultz

Family

Boraginaceae

Authority

Mysotis laxa Lehm. subsp. caespitosa (CF Schultz)

Flora category

Vascular – Exotic

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

MYOLSC

Conservation status

Not applicable

Brief description

Low growing herb on wet ground and damp hollows. Leaves are pale green, stems often bend at the base and leaves are willow like. The flowers are small, pale blue with a yellow center.

Distribution

Widespread and very common throughout New Zealand.

Habitat

Margins of ponds and streams and wet hollows, growing submerged in clear fast-flowing streams.

Wetland plant indicator status rating

Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).

OBL: Obligate Wetland

Almost always is a hydrophyte, rarely in uplands (non-wetlands).

Features

Plants are annual or biennial and 20 to 40 cm tall. Stems are decumbent or ascending. Leaves are narrow, alternate and attached directly to the stem and have pointed or rounded tips with a prominent mid-vein. Leaves usually 30 to 60 mm long, pale green with sparse appressed hairs. Flowers are 2 to 4mm wide, pale blue (with yellow centre). Pedicels at fruiting 2 to 3 times as long as calyx. Nutlets (4) are dark brown.

Similar taxa

M. scorpioides is similar, but has larger floweres and small calyx lobes.

Flowering

September to May

Flower colours

Blue, Yellow

Fruiting

Summer to autumn

Life cycle

Mainly seed dispersal by water movement and animals contaminated with hooked persistent calyx surrounding seed.

Year naturalised

1892

Origin

Temperate Eurasia, East to Himalaya

Reason for introduction

Ornamental pond and garden plant

Control techniques

Can be controlled manually, mechanically or herbicidally depending on situation.

Etymology

myosotis: Mouse-eared

laxa: Slack, loose

caespitosa: From the Latin caespes ‘tuft’ or ‘sod of turf’, meaning growing in tufts or patches

Attribution

Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA).

References and further reading

Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989). Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.

Popay et al (2010). An illustrated guide to common weeds of New Zealand, third edition. NZ Plant Protection Society Inc, 416pp.

WSDE (2001). An aquatic plant identification manual for Washington’s freshwater plants. Washington State Department of Ecology, 195pp.

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