Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Family
Boraginaceae
Genus
Myosotidium Hook.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Myosotidium hortensia (Decne.) Baill., Hist. Pl. (Baillon) 10, 383 (1891)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Myosotis hortensia Decne. in Delessert, Icon. Select. Pl. 5, 42, t. 99 (1846) – as M. Hortensia
  • = Cynoglossum nobile Hook.f., Gard. Chron. 240 (1858)
  • ≡ Myosotidium nobile (Hook.f.) Hook., Bot. Mag. 85: t. 5137 (1859)
Vernacular Name(s):
Chatham Island forget-me-not; Giant forget-me-not; kopakopa; Kōpukapuka
 Description

Perennial from stout cylindric stock. Basal lvs crowded, 15–30 cm. or more long, broad ovate-cordate to reniform, thick, fleshy, deeply grooved, on long stout petioles; upper surface glab. and shining, under-surface with evenly scattered minute retrorse hairs. Fl.-branches exceeding lvs, their lvs about oblong, sessile. Cymes dense, 10–15 cm. diam.; pedicels c. 10 mm. long. Calyx-lobes broad with appressed hairs; corolla c. 12–15 mm. diam., dark to pale blue, lobes rounded. Nutlets flattened, with unevenly toothed wing, c. 15 mm. diam.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Sep.–Oct.; Fruiting: Oct.–Dec.

 Bibliography
Baillon, H.E. 1888–1891: Histoire des Plantes. Vol. 10. Librarie Hachette, Paris.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Nationally Vulnerable]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Nationally Vulnerable]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Nationally Vulnerable]
Delessert, J. P. B. 1846: Icones selectae plantarum. Vol. 5. Candolle, A.P. de, Paris.
Garnock-Jones, P.J. 2014: Evidence-based review of the taxonomic status of New Zealand’s endemic seed plant genera. New Zealand Journal of Botany 52(2): 163–212.
Heenan, P.B.; Schönberger, I. 2009: Typification of Myosotis hortensia Decne., the basionym of Myosotidium hortensium (Decne.) Baill., and its synonym Cynoglossum nobile Hook.f. (Boraginaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 121–125.
Hooker, J.D. 1858: The Gardeners' Chronicle
Hooker, W.J. 1859: Curtis's Botanical Magazine 85: Pl. 5091–Pl. 5156.