136 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



The slender wiry stems are light yellow-brown in 

 color, and are destitute of leaves ; the flowers are 

 dull white little things which grow^ in 

 clusters at intervals on the twining 

 stalk. Down East the weed grows 

 in wet places, and covers shrubs and 

 plants with a tangled mass of amber- 

 colored threads which produce a 

 rather pretty efl'ect among the green. 

 It flowers in early sunnner. It is a 

 near relative of the morning-glory. 



Bedstraw. The little vine called 



Galium triflorum. bcdstraw has an in- 

 teresting conventional leaf, but an 

 inconspicuous white flower much less 

 effective than sweet alyssum. The 

 sweet-scented variety is common in 

 the glades of the White Plills and in 

 the thickets which border the rivers 

 there. The flowers have, in my opin- 

 ion, a sickening-sweet odor which is unpleasant. The 

 vine is a pretty little thing, whose circularly arranged 

 leaves give it a decorative look. The most extraor- 

 dinary thing about bedstraw is the way it catches on 

 everything it touches ; the microscope will tell the 

 reason why. In my frequent w^alks to a secluded 

 spot on the brink of the beautiful Pemigewasset 



Galium. 



