84 NEILGHERRY PLANTS. 
_ Qotacamund’in. woods flowering “March and April. forming terminal corymbs: corolla 5-cleft, throat 
A low very ramous shrub the branches nearly naked, hairy, divisions oblong elliptic obtuse; anthers ex- 
he ramuli. covered with closely approximated coria- serted: style not gibbous: stigma clavate, slightly 
ceous shining leaves: peduncles confine the ter- cleft at the apex: berry ovoid, crowned with the per- 
minal axils, generally about 3-flowered; flowers white sistent calyx. 
with a hairy throat and line of hairs extending along A large shrub or small tree, in low woods by the 
the segments of the corolla. roa r 
OFFEA GRUMELIOoIDES (R. W.) shrubby or ‘This seems to beararer species than the preceding 
subarboreous, glabrous : leaves obovate cuneate, short- and is confined to a lower range of elevation. Though 
ly and bluntly acuminate, coriaceous: peduncles ia many respects like C. alpestris this is certainly a 
s 
$8 fc 
axillary, confined to the upper axils, about 3-flowered, distinct species. 
GALLIUM.—Bedstraw, Cleavers, &c. 
Calyx-tube obovate-globose or oblong, with scarcely any limb, Corolla 4- (very rarely 3-) partite, rotate. 
Stamens short. Styles 2, short. Fruit didymous, roundish, rarely oblong, dry, composed of 2 indehiscent. 
i-seeded mericarps.—Herbaceous branched plants, Leaves with the stipules forming a verticil._—W. and A. 
Prod, p. 442, 
I mentioned above that Dr. Lindley proposed separating the section Stellatee including Gallium, Rubia, C.. 
from the rest of the order, and elevating it to the rank of a distinct order, mainly on the grounds of the plants 
composing it not having stipules, but in their place verticels of leaves. He has not succeeded in persuading 
other Botanists to adopt this view, as they object that all except two of the leaves of the whorl are in fact. sti- 
pulary appendages, since they, however much they resemble leaves in form and appearance, are not truly 
such. being destitute of axillary buds. This objection has scarcely been met by Dr. Lindley. He 
argues thus—‘ The only ground on which this is intelligible is that taken by DeCandolle and others who con- 
sider the apparent leaves of Stellate to be in part true leaves, and in part leaf-like, stipules. To this verbal 
but not real distinction there is this objection, which I conceive quite fatal to it, If part of the leaves of eac 
whorl of Gallium were stipules, they must bear a certain proportion to the true leaves; suppose the whorl to 
consist of two leaves, each will have two stipules, and consequently the whole. number of parts in the whorl 
must be six, and in all cases the number must be some power of three.” Such not being the case in nature, 
he considers “ an incontrovertible proof that the apparent leaves of Stedlate are true leaves and not a modifix 
cation of stipules.” To all this of course the simple answer is, if they are leaves, where are their axillary 
buds which all true leaves have? if not, why should not their number vascillate as readily as the number 
bristles on the stipules of a Spermacoce or Hedyotis. 
So far as Dr. Lindley has carried out his answer to DeCandolle’s “verbal distinction,” it can only be 
viewed as special pleading, as he has failed to prove by any decisive mark, that the apparent leaves are true 
ones, nor has he shown that viewed as stipules their number might not vary the same as the number of bristles ° 
in. Spermacoce, which, if they became developed, might in like manner-assume the form of leaves. 
Such was the state of the question when the late Mr. Griffith took it up, and by showing that the. appa- 
rent corolla is simply acoloured dilatation of the calyx, and that there is in fact no corolla, established on. some- 
thing like reasonable grounds, the correctness of Lindley’s view in severing this section from the rest. of the 
order, which Lindley has certainly failed in doing for himself, According to Mr. Griffith’s views of its. struc- 
ture Galiacee or Steliate should rank near Nyctagynie, in the monochlamedious class of. DeCandolle. 
The genus Gallium is one of great extent, including in all about 200 species, and is truly cosmopolite, 
being found in all parts of the world, but is rare in the tropics.. In India, the very few species we have are all 
alpine, and of little interest or value, unless perhasin connection with the Botanical question we have just 
been discussing. 
The genus Rubia, one of this tribe, has 2 species which are valuable as yielding excellent red dyes— 
namely, R. tinctorum the Madder of Europe, and R. cordifolia,the manjettie of the ‘T'amools. The latter’ is 
abundant on the slopes. of the, Neilgherri ] might be collected in quantities with little trouble or expense © 
and, as I believe it bears.a high price in markets where its value is known, might yield a profitable return to.. 
article, 
PAPA g 
speculators in that 
