MADDER FAMILY. 173 



§ 2. Fruit dry when ripe, small. 



« Smooth : leaves with strong midrib but no side ribs or nerves : flowers white, 

 loosely clustered at the end of spreading branches. 



Gt. asprellum, Rough Bedstraw. Low thickets : 3° - 5° high, as it 

 were climbing, the backwardly prickly-roughened angles of the stem and edges 

 and midrib of the lance-oblong pointed leaves adhering to contiguous plants ; 

 leaves in whorls of 6 on the stem and of 4 or 5 CMi the branchlets : flowers 

 numerous. 



G. trifldum, Small B. Swamps and low grounds, 6' -2° high, roughish 

 or sometimes nearly smooth ; leaves varying from linear to oblong, 4 - 6 in the 

 whorls ; flowers rather few, their parts often 3. 



* * Fruit smooth or slightly bristly : leaves 3-7ierved : flowers white, in a narrow 

 and long terminal panicle. ^ 



G. boreale, Northern B. Rocky banks of streams N. ; \° -2° high, 

 smooth, erect, with lance-linear leaves in fours. 



* * * Fruit a little bur, being covered with hooked prickles. 

 ■*- Leaves mostly 6 or 8 in a whorl., with midrib and no side nerves : flowers whitish 

 or greenish : stems reclining or prostrate, bristly-rough backwards on the angles. 



G. Aparine, Cleavers or Goose-Grass. Low grounds : leaves in 

 eights, lanceolate, rough-edged, l'-2' long; peduncles axillary, 1 -2-flowered; 

 fruit large. (T) 



G. trifldrum, Sweet-scented Bedstraw. Woodlands, especially N. : 

 leaves mostly in sixes, lance-oblong, bristle-pointed ; peduncles terminating the 

 branches, 3-riowered. Sweet-scented in drying, y. 



•*- -t- Leaves all in fljurs, more or less 3-nerved : flowers not white : stems ascending, 

 about 1° high, rather simple, not prickly-7'oughened. '2J, 



G. pil6suiu. Commonest S., in dry tliickets : leaves oval, dotted, downy, 

 1' long; flowers brown-purple or cream-colored, all pcdicelled, the peduncle 

 2 -3-timcs forked. Var. puncticul6sum is a smooth form S. 



G. circSBZans, Wild Liquorice, the root being sweetish : common in 

 thickets ; loaves oval or oblong, obtuse, ciliate ; peduncles once forked, their 

 long branches bearing short-pedicelled dull or bi'ownish flowers along the sides, 

 the fruit reflexed. 



G. lanceol^tUUl, like the preceding, common N. ; but with lanceolate or 

 lalice-ovate tapering leaves, 2' long. 



3. DIODIA, BUTTON-WEED. (Name from Greek for a thoroughfare, 

 being humble weeds, often growing by the wayside.) Fl. all summer, white 

 or whitish. 



D. Virginiea. Sandy banks from Maryland S. ; with spreading stems 

 1° - 2° long, broadly lanceolate sessile leaves, salver-shaped coi'olla ^' long, 

 2-parted style, and oblong fruit crowned with 2 calyx-teeth. 2/ 



D. t6res. Sandy fields from N. Jersey and Illinois S. ; with slender stems 

 3' - 9' long, linear and rigid leaves, small corolla rather shorter than the long 

 bristles of the stipules, undivided style, and obovate little fruit crowned with 

 the 4 short calyx-teeth. (T) 



4. MITCHELLA, PARTRIDGE-BERRY. Cisamed for Dr. J. Mitchell, 

 who corresponded from Virginia with Linnreus.) El. in early summer. ^ 

 M. r6pens, the only species, common in woods ; a little herb, creeping over 



the ground, with the small evergreen leaves round-ovate, very smooth and 

 glossy, bright green, sometimes with whitish lines, short-petioled ; the flowers 

 pretty and sweet-scented ; the scarlet fruit remaining oyer winter, eatable, but 

 dry and almost tasteless. 



6. CEPHALANTHUS, BUTTON-BUSH. (Name from Greek words 

 for head nml flowrr.) Fl. summer and autumn. 



C. OCCident^lis, the only species, is a tall shrub, common along the bor' 



