218 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Sub-Species II.— Galium elatum. Thuill. 



Plate DCL. 



J^eich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MCLXXXVIII. Fig. 1. 

 Uillot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 2477 ? 



G. Mollugo, Iluds. D. C. Prod. Vol. IV. p. 596. J3ab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. IGl. 

 Jlook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 196. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 365. 



Perennial. Stem decumbent, much branched with divaricate 

 branches. Leaves oblanceolate or obovate, rarely linear-oblan- 

 ceolate. Panicle broad, the lower branches divaricate in fruit. 



Var. a, genuinum. 



Leaves usually 8 in a whorl, oblanceolate. Branches of the 

 panicle many-flowered. 



Yar. l3, itisubricum. Gaud. 



Leaves usually 6 in a whorl, obovate. Branches of the panicle 



few-flowered. 



Var. 7, Bakeri. 



Leaves 6 to 8 in a whorl, strapshaped or linear-strapshaped. 

 Branches of the panicle few-flowered. 



On banks by roadsides, and in waste places. Common in chalky 

 districts, and generally distributed throughout England ; rare in 

 Scotland, from which country I have seen specimens only from 

 Dirleton, Haddingtonshire. Var. y near Thirsk. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Late Summer 



and Autumn. 

 Very like G. erectum, with which the var. Bakeri connects it, 

 but generally a larger and more diffusely-branched plant, with the 

 leaves spreading, the lower branches of the panicle diverging from 

 the stem at a much greater angle, the flowers and fruit rather 

 smaller. The stem is frequently 3 or 4 feet long when supported 

 by bushes in its vicinity, thickened under the joints, and with the 

 leaves generally glabrous; but forms occur in which both the 

 leaves and stem are pubescent. The Yorkshire Galium, which I have 

 named after Mr. J. G. Baker, is one of three or four of the inter- 

 mediate forms which connect G. erectum with G. elatum, of which 

 G. aristatum (Sm.) is another. (See Baker, in Journal of Botany, 

 18G3, p. 290.) 



Common Great Bedstraw. 



French, Gaillet Blanc. ■ German, Gemeines Lahkraut. 

 This plant has been recommended by French physicians as a cure for epilepsy. 

 Its roots yield a red dye similar to that from madder. 



