Description: Annual to perennial herbs, glabrous to hirsute, but not hispid.
Leaves alternate above a basal rosette.
Inflorescence terminal, scorpioid cymes, bracts absent. Flowers 5-merous, pedicellate. Sepals fused at the base. Corolla actinomorphic, blue, yellow or white; tube ± funnel-shaped with 5 saccate scales at the throat; lobes spreading. Stamens usually included in corolla, exserted in a few species only. Gynobase low and broad.
Mericarps smooth and shiny.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 50 species, Northern Hemisphere to southern temperate regions. Australia: 7 species (2 species native, 5 species naturalised) N.S.W., Vic., Tas., S.A., W.A.
Text by Peter G. Wilson
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Anthers fully exserted from corollla tube | Myosotis exarrhena |
| Anthers included or shortly exserted from corolla tube | 2 |
| 2 | Hairs on leaves appressed; hairs on calyx appressed, not hooked | Myosotis laxa |
| Hairs on leaves spreading; hairs on calyx spreading, hooked
Back to 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Corolla bright blue with a yellow throat; lobes ± 2.5 mm long | Myosotis sylvatica |
| Corolla white, yellow or pale blue; lobes less than 2 mm long
Back to 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Corolla white or yellow, turning blue; lobes of fruiting calyx narrow-triangular to linear, 2.5–3 times longer than broad | Myosotis discolor |
| Corolla white or yellow; lobes of fruiting calyx triangular, twice as long as broad
Back to 3 | Myosotis australis |
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