CLASS IV. ORDER I.] GALIUM. 183 



English Botany, Supplement, t. 2784.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 204. 

 — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 129. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 67. 



" The stems are numerous, a foot high, upright, with copious spread- 

 ing branches, square, very smooth. Leaves six in a whorl on the main 

 stem, and often on the branches, though sometimes but four or five ; 

 the largest above an inch long, on short broad stalks, elliptic-lanceo- 

 late, flat, pliant, deep-green on both sides, with many iuterb ranching 

 veins, smooth except the edges, which are very minutely prickly. 

 Floivers white, in terminal, forked, aggregate, compound /janic/es, with 

 perfectly smooth, slender, but not capillary stalks. Segments of the 

 corolla spreading, each tipped with a taper point of its own substance. 

 Seeds becoming kidney-shaped as they ripen, with a central vacancy, 

 smooth, or slightly granulated." 



Habitat. — In Angusshire, Scotland ; but not common — Mr. G. Don. 



Perennial ; flowering from July to August. 



This plant we have not had an opportunity of examining. The 

 description is that of Sir J. E. Smith, in English Flora. 



9. G. MoUu'go, Linn. (Fig. 230.) great Hedge Bed-straiv. Leaves 

 about eight in a whorl, ovate, obtuse, bristle-pointed, the margins 

 rough ; panicle large, loose, branched, spreading ; segments of the 

 corolla taper-pointed. 



English Botany, t. 1673.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 208.— Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 129. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 67. 



Stem from two to four or five feet high, with numerous long, strag- 

 gling branches, square, pale and shining, swelling about the joints, 

 especially the upper ones, quite smooth or slightly hairy. Leaves in 

 rather distant whorls, mostly eight, green above, pale beneath, the mar- 

 gins smooth, or with prickles pointing forwards ; the upper leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate; the lower ovate-obtuse, except having a very short 

 acute bristle point ; all single-ribbed, and quite smooth or scattered 

 over with hair. Inflorescence a much-branched spreading panicle of 

 very numerous white flowers. Corolla spreading, its segments three- 

 ribbed, and tapering into a long, bluntish, hair-like point. Fruit 

 small, smooth, globular, frequently abortive. 



Habitat. — Dry banks, hedges, and thickets : not unfrequent in 

 England ; less frequent in Scotland ; and more common about Dublin 

 than in any other part of Ireland. 



Perennial ; flowering from July to August. 



We have observed this plant growing so profusely in various parts of 

 the midland counties, as to overtop the hedges, and cover them for 

 several yards with its profusion of snow-white flowers : in such situa- 

 tions few plants can be conceived more lovely in their wild luxuriance, 

 contrasting beautifully with the dark-green foliage of the Hawthorn. 



10. G. pusil'lum, Linn. (Fig. 231.) least Mountain Bed-straw. 



