334 RUBIACEAE. 



Plantago Taa.croca.rpa. Cham. & Schlecht. Perennial, fleshy; leaves lan- 

 ceolate, acute, 10-30 cm. long, tapering into a long margined petiole; scapes as 

 long as or longer than the leaves; spike dense, cylindric, in fruit 4-5 cm. long, 

 its axis pubescent; bracts and sepals rather fleshy, scarious-margined; capsule 

 ovoid-oblong, 4-seeded, 6-8 mm. long. 



Common on the seacoast, Alaska to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, 

 and perhaps to Washington. 



Plantago purshii R. & S. Annual, 5-30 cm. high, white-hairy or woolly 

 throughout; leaves 5-10 cm. long, 1-3-nerved, linear or lanceolate, acute, 

 narrowed at the base into a petiole; spikes dense, 1-10 cm. long; bracts subu- 

 late, exceeding the flowers, becoming rigid; flowers perfect but of two kinds on 

 separate plants, in one the four stamens being long and exserted, in the other 

 short and included; sepals oblong, obtuse, with broad scarious margins; 

 corolla white, the spreading lobes ovate. 



Common in dry ground. 



Plantago aristata Michx. Much like P. purshii but greener and less hairy; 

 bracts of the spikes much longer than the flowers. 

 Sparingly introduced from the central states. 



Family 94. RUBIACEAE. MADDER FAMILY. 

 Herbs (in ours) ; leaves opposite, entire with intervening 

 stipules or whorled without stipules; flowers generally perfect; 

 calyx 4- or 5-lobed or toothed, coherent with the ovary; corolla 

 gamopetalous, regular, 4- or 5-lobed or toothed; stamens on the 

 corolla and alternate with its lobes; ovary inferior, 2-5-celled; 

 endosperm hard, copious. 



Corolla funnelform, 4- or 5-lobed; calyx-lobes present. 466. SHERARDIA, 334. 

 Corolla wheel-shaped, 3- or 4-parted; calyx-teeth none. 467. GALIUM, 334. 



466. SHERARDIA. 



Slender procumbent herbs with 4-sided stems; leaves lanceolate, 

 pointed, in whorls of 4-6; flowers small, blue or pinkish, sur- 

 rounded by a gamophyllous involucre; calyx-lobes lanceolate, 

 persistent; corolla funnelform, the limb 4-5-lobed; style filiform, 

 2-cleft; stigmas capitate; fruit dry, twin, of 2 indehiscent 1- 

 seeded carpels. 



Sherardia arvensis L. Scabrous; stems tufted, loosely branched, 10-20 

 cm. high; leaves in whorls of 4, 5, or 6, lanceolate or lance-linear, acute, 6-15 

 mm. long; flowers capitate; involucre 6-8-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, acute; 

 corolla pink, with spreading lobes; calyx-teeth persistent on the fruit. 



Introduced from Europe. 



467. GALIUM. BEDSTRAW. CLEAVERS. 



Annual or perennial herbs with 4-angled stems; leaves whorled, 

 without apparent stipules; flowers small, usually cymose; calyx- 

 teeth obsolete; corolla rotate, 4-parted, rarely 3-parted; stamens 

 as many as the corolla-lobes, short; styles 2, short; stigmas capi- 



