Last time we attempted to identify a Forget-Me-Not that was found growing in Oldtown Elkridge. (Click here to see the first part of the story.)
After looking at the key, we narrowed the possibilities down to three species – Myosotis arvensis, Myosotis discolor, and Myosotis stricta, the last three species on the key.
So today I went out to the station where we first found the plant. Of course, the flowering stems had elongated and there were more fruits. The fruiting pedicels were all shorter than the calyces. The plants were floriferous (with flowers) well below the middle of the flowering stems. I did not see any styles extending beyond the mericarps. After running this through the key in the first blog entry, we come up with Myosotis stricta Link ex Roem. & Schult. or Strict Forget-me-not.
CONCLUSION: sometimes you have to look at a plant at different stages to be sure of an identification.
SUCCESS!