General:
Annual herb from fibrous roots, with short, coarse, spreading or appressed hairs throughout; stems simple or branched, 5-40 cm tall.

Leaves:
Lowermost leaves oblanceolate and somewhat stalked; middle and upper leaves more oblong or narrowly elliptic to linear and nearly unstalked, 1-5 cm long, 2-10 mm wide, entire, alternate.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of coiled, narrow, elongating clusters, with some leafy bracts on lower flowers, not much longer than the leafy portion of the plant; fruiting stalks ascending, usually shorter than calyces; corollas inconspicuous; petals white, fused at base into a tube that flares (1-2 mm wide) at the top to 5 small lobes; fruiting calyces 4-7 mm long, covered with short hooked hairs on the sepal-tube, stiff ascending-hairy on the lobes, asymmetric, 3 of the lobes shorter than the other 2.

Fruits:
Nutlets 4, clustered, egg-shaped, brown, commonly with pale stippling.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Myosotis virginica auct. non (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.