GALIUM 263 



1809. This is a very variable species. I have enumerated three 

 varieties, but many of our plants scarcely agi*ee with either, possessing 

 as they do intermediate characters. 



Var. ELONGATUM (Presl, Delic. Prag. 119 (1822), as a species), not of 

 Syme and Eeichenbach, &c. The true plant of Presl has smooth stems 

 ' caule erecto elongato tetragono laevissimo,' and is found in very wet 

 situations along our stream-sides. Mr. Boswell records it from Tubney 

 and the Kev. W. W. Newbould from Pangbourn, but I have not seen 

 their specimens. I have seen it near Moulsford, at Padworth, by the 

 Blackwater at Thatcher's Ford and Jouldern's Ford, whence specimens 

 were sent to Bot. Exch. Club in 1892, and near Old Windsor. G. elonga- 

 tum is kept as a distinct species in the Index Kewensis and by many 

 continental authorities ; but doubtless G. maximum, Moris, is com- 

 bined with it. 



Var. LANCEOLATUM, Ucchtritz in Flora, v. (1822) 440. G. maxiynum, 

 Moris, Stirp. Sard. ed. i, 55 (1827). G. palusire, var. elongatum, Syme, 

 t- 653, and of most English authors, not G. elongatum, Presl. This 

 plant, which is as robust as the preceding variety, has rough stems, 

 but less rough than in the var. Witheringii. It is rather frequent in 

 meadow ditches and marshes. I have seen it near Lechlade, near 

 Appleton, and near Wytham in the Isis district ; at Cothill and 

 Steventon, near Appleford, and in the Abingdon meadows in the Ock 

 district ; at Tidmarsh in the Pang district ; at Southcote, &c., in the 

 Kennet district ; and at Ruscombe, Long Moor, Winkfield, and Cole- 

 man's Moor in the Loddon district. 



Var. Witheringii (Sm. Fl. Brit. 174 ; E. B. t. 2206, as a species). 

 G. montanum-. With. Bot. Arr. ed. 3, ii. 187, not of Linnaeus. A not 

 uncommon form, which is much smaller than the preceding, with 

 very rough stems and ascending panicle-branches. I have seen it in 

 the Isis district at Wytham, Buscot, and Appleton ; in the Ock district 

 at Radley, South Hinksey, Steventon, Coxwell, Pusey, and Garfield ; 

 in the Pang district at Bucklebury, and Fence Wood ; in the Kennet 

 district at Aldermaston, near Newbury, Theale, Inkpen, &c. ; in the 

 Loddon district at Winkfield, Cookham, Wokingham, Bracknell, 

 Finchampstead, Windsor Park, Warren Row, Sandhurst, &c. 



Doubtless these varieties are more frequent than the above records 

 show. During wet seasons the flowers are comparatively few, as then 

 excessive leaf-development goes on. In the dry summer of 1892 

 the profusion of the flowers was very noticeable, especially by the 

 Upper Thames, when it became a very ornamental plant to the marshes 

 and ponds. 



6?. palustre occurs in all the bordering counties. 



G. uligrinosum, Linn. Sp. PI. 106 (1753). Marsh Goose-grass. 



Top. Bot. 211. Syme, E. B. iv. 222, t. 655. Nyman, 327. Fl. Oxf. 149. 



