General: Perennial, 10-35 cm tall; stems solitary or few together, erect to ascending, glabrous.

Leaves: Basal and cauline, alternate, simple, elliptic, lanceolate, or ovate, 2-7 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, glabrous, margins entire; basal and lower cauline blades short- petiolate, upper cauline blades sessile.

Flowers: Inflorescence of numerous flowers arranged in panicle- like cymes, the branches often elongating in fruit; pedicels strigose; calyx 2.5-4 mm long, divided nearly to the base, the lobes linear-lanceolate, glabrous or pubescent, the margins the lobes rounded; flowers June- September.

Fruits: Nutlets 4, with a distinct, reflexed margin.

Ecology: Pine forests; 1800-2700 m (6000-9000 ft); Coconino, Gila, Mohave, and Yavapai counties; endemic to Arizona.

Notes: Mertensia franciscana is distinguished from M. macdougalli by strigose pubescence on the upper surfaces of the leaves, strigose pedicels, calyx divided nearly to the base, and the lobes of the calyx with a fringe of hairs. Myosotis scorpioides (true forget-me-not, scorpion weed, snake weed) is an introduced perennial, 15-50 cm tall, with slender stems initially erect, becoming decumbent; leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, 2-8 cm long, 7-20 mm wide, with surfaces appressed-pubescent; inflorescence is of loose, often paired racemes; pedicels are often longer than the calyx; calyx lobes are triangular, strigose; corolla is salverform, with a narrow tube and broadly flaring lobes, blue with yellow crests in the throat; nutlets are 4, ovoid, smooth, shiny, sharply margined. It typically occurs in wet soils and shallow water, and is widely distributed throughout the U.S.

Editor: Springer et al. 2008