RUBIACEJE MADDER FAMILY 



Galium Claytoni, Michx. 



White 



Clayton's Bed-straw. 

 July-September 



Galium: from Greek for milk, which some species are used 



to curdle 

 Claytoni: name in honour of the botanist, John Clayton. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: damp ground. 



THE PLANT: erect, or, when older, low-lying, six to twelve 

 inches high, branched; the branches in twos; the stems 

 slender, sharply four-angled, more or less rough. 



THE LEAVES: in fives or sixes; linear-spatulate or spatu- 

 late-oblong; dull, dark green above, discoloured in drying; 

 obtuse at the apex; wedge-shaped at the base; petioled; 

 rough on the margins and midrib; bracts minute. 



THE FLOWERS: in clusters of twos and threes, on straight, 

 hairless, pedicels, which branch out as the fruit ripens; 

 petal-lobes oval, obtuse. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



This is a very delicate and insignificant plant of damp 

 ground, where it spreads among the general tangle of 

 "green things" a mat of its rough, thread-like branches 

 with narrow, slightly spade-shaped leaves, that grow in 

 groups of fours and sixes around the stem. The tiny, 

 white flowers are wheel-shaped. It is a delicate plant and 

 not undecorative, but it requires considerable patience to 

 pick a sufficient amount to use in a bouquet. It is easier 

 just to grasp a handful of stems and pull up a whole 

 colony at once easier, but also more destructive. 



This is the Family to which the Coffee and Peruvian- 

 bark trees belong. 



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