The original name of Wasurenagusa is Vergissmeinnicht in German. The knight Rudolph accidentally falls into the river trying to give this flower, which blooms on the banks of the Donau River, to his lover Bertha, and dies, leaving behind the words not to forget this flower. After that, Bertha remembered the word and continued to decorate this flower with her hair for the rest of her life. This German tragic love story is the origin of the name of this flower. It was Takiya Kawakami, a botanist of the Meiji era, who translated this into Japanese as “forget-me-not”. The English name is forget-me-not, and it is a wonderful plant that every this flower’s name in the world has the same meaning in. Each flower of Wasurenagusa is a small flower of rice grain size, but the sight of countless blue florets blooming from April to June is a very beautiful sight. There are also many songs with Wasurenagusa.
勿忘草(わすれなぐさ)の原名はドイツ語のVergissmeinnichtです。騎士ルドルフが、 ドナウ川の岸に咲くこの花を恋人ベルタに贈ろうとして誤って川に落ち、この花をわすれないでという言葉を残して死んでしまいます。その後ベルタは その言葉を忘れず、この花を一生髪に飾り続けたと言うドイツの悲恋物語に由来します。これを「勿忘草」と日本語に訳したのは、明治の植物学者の川上滝弥です。英名は forget-me-notで、世界のどこの言葉でも同じ意味の名前をもっている素敵な植物です。勿忘草のひとつひとつの花は米粒サイズの小さな花ですが、4月~6月、無数にブルーの小花が開花している光景はとても美しい光景です。勿忘草を冠した多くの歌曲も沢山出ています。