Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Family
Boraginaceae
Genus
Myosotis L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Myosotis laeta Cheeseman, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 17: 236 (1885) – as Myosotis (Exarrhena) læta
Synonymy:
Type: South Island. Red Hills, Wairau, Nelson alt. 4000 feet (1220 m), Jan. 1882, T.F.Cheeseman s.n. (lecto, designated by L. B. Moore in H. H. Allan (Ed.). Fl. New Zealand 1: 823 (1961): AK 7531!*; isolecto: WELT SP002415!*, AK 210594!* (7 of 12 plants on sheet only, remaining plants represent Myosotis monroi).
Etymology:
The epithet is derived from the Latin laetus and means cheerful, pleasant or bright (Stearn 1998).
 Description

Rosette loose; lvs narrow-spathulate; hairs fine, silky, scarcely overlapping, regularly retrorse abaxially. Lateral branches erect; lvs < internodes, few, with hairs fringing margins. Cymes ebracteate; internodes > calyx at fruiting. Calyx hairs long, flexuous on lobes, hooked near base of calyx. Corolla white to yellowish, c. 8 mm diam.; tube funnelform; filaments > anthers, carrying them above scales.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1885: New species of plants. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 17: 235–236.
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 Critical]
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 Endangered]
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 Endangered]