RUBIACE^>. (madder FAMILY.) 227 



loosely many-flowered, the purple flowers on slender spreading pedicels; fruit 

 smooth, rather fleshy. — Dry woods, mountains of Penn. to N. C. and Tenn. 



7. G. Arkansanum, Gray. Similar but lower; leaves lanceolate to 

 linear (T long or less), the lateral nerves obscure or none. — S. Mo. and Ark. 



•I — I- Leaves narrow ; flowers bright white, numerous in a compact panicle. 



8. G. boreale, L. (Northern Bedstraw.) Smooth (1-2° high); 

 leaves linear-lanceolate ; fruit minutely bristly, sometimes smooth. — - Rockv 

 banks of streams, Maine to Penn., Iowa, Minn., and westward. (Eu., Asia.) 



* * Leaves in 4's, 5's, or 6's, small, \-nerved ; flowers white; fruit smooth 



{flowers greenish and fruit hispid in n 12.) 



■t- Leaves pointless. 



9. G. trifidum, L. (Small Bedstraav.) Stems weak, ascending (5 - 

 20' high), branching, mostly roughened backwards on the angles; leaves in 

 u-horls of 4 to 6, linear or oblanceolate, the margins and midrib rough ; peduncles 

 scattered, 1 -1-flowered ; corolla-lobes and stamens often only 3. — Spliagnous 

 bogs and wet ground, throughout the continent. Exceedingly variable. — Var. 

 PUsfLLUM, Gray, the smallest form; leaves only in 4's, 3-4" long, narrow, in 

 age often reflexed ; peduncles I-flowered. In cold bogs, northward. — Var. 

 latif6lium, Torr., the larger and broadest-leaved form ; leaves 6 or 7" long, 

 often 2" wide. From Canada, south and west. (Eu., Asia.) 



10. G. COncinnum, Torr. & Gray. Stems low and slender (6-12' high), 

 with minutely roughened angles; leaves all in ^'s, linear, slightl// pointed, vein- 

 less, the margins upwardly roughened; peduncles 2-3 times forked ,diff'usel y pan- 

 icled ; pedicels short. — Dry hills, Penn. to Va., west to Minn., Iowa, and Ark. 



-i- -f- Leaves cuspidately mucronate or acuminate. 



11. G. asprellum, Michx. (Rough Bedstraw.) .S^e/w much branched, 

 rough backwards with hooked prickles, leaning on bushes (3-5° high) ; leaves 

 in whorls of ^, or 4-5 on the branchlets, oval-lanceolate, with almost prickly mar- 

 gins and midrib; peduncles short, 2-3 times forked. — Alluvial ground, N. 

 Eng. to N. C., west to Minn., Iowa, and Mo. 



12. G. triflorum, Michx. (Sweet-scented BEDSTRAW^) Stem (1-3° 

 long) l)ristly-rougheued backward on the angles; leaves elliptical-lanceolate, 

 bristle-pointed, with slightly roughened margins (1-2' long); peduncles 3- 

 flowered, the flowers all pedicelled, greenish ; fruit beset with hooked bristles. 

 — Rich woodlands, throughout the continent. Sweet-scented in drying. (Eu.) 



§ 3. Perennial ; fruit a berry ; leaves in 4's, \-nerved. 



13. G. hispidulum, Michx. Hirsute-pubescent, scabrous, or sometimes 

 nearly smooth, 1-2° high, diffusely branched ; leaves oblong or oval, mucro- 

 nate (3-6'' long) , pedicels solitary or commonly 2 or 3 from the small invo- 

 lucral whorl, all naked, or one of them bracteolate ; flowers white ; berry purple, 

 glabrate. — Dry or sandy soil, southern N. J. to Fla., along the coast. 



8. SHERARDIA, DiU. 



Calyx-lobes lanceolate, persistent. Corolla funnel-form, the limb 4 - 5-lobed. 

 Stamens 4 -.5. Style filiform, 2-cleft ; stigmas capitate. Fruit dry, twin, of 2 

 indehiscent 1-seeded carpels. — A slender procumbent herb, with square stems, 



