RUBIACEiE. 221 



Scotland, except in the extreme North, Yar. a I have from 

 Castleton, Derbyshire ; Settle, Tcesdale, Leyburn, and Ptichmond, 

 Yorkshire ; var. /3 from Matlock Bath and Cromford Moor, Derby- 

 shire, and Tcesdale, Yorkshire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer 

 and Autumn. 



Stems diffuse, 4 to 20 inches high. Lower leaves shorter and 

 broader than the upper ones, about J inch long, the upper ones 

 J to 1 inch long. Panicle rather small, often sub-corymbose in 

 var. a; in var. 3 with the branches longer, but the flowers in 

 more compact cymes. Plowers similar to those of G. saxatile, 

 but rather smaller. Pruit also similar, but with the tubercles 

 more minute. Plant greyish-green, somewhat shining, and retain- 

 ing its colour if dried with ordinary care. 



The Tcesdale plant, supposed to be G. commutatum of Jordan, 

 for specimens of w^hich I am indebted to Mr. J. G. Baker, is cer- 

 tainly not the plant described by Grenier and Godron. Of this I 

 have specimens authenticated by MM. Grenier and Jordan : these 

 have the leaves very narrow, with the midrib extremely thick, filling 

 up the greater part of the lamina ; and the plant is also of a stouter 

 habit. 



Slender Bedstraw, 



French, Gaillet Sauvage, German, Ileide Lcibhraut. 



SPECIES VIIL— GALIUM PALUSTRE. Linn. 

 Plates DCLIII. DCLIY. 

 Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MCXCV. 



Perennial. Stems weak, diffuse, branched throughout, with 

 numerous barren shoots, smooth or rough at the angles. Leaves 

 4 to 6 in a whorl, often unequal, thin, oblong-elliptical or strap- 

 shaped, obtuse and not mucronate at the apex, 1-nerved, glabrous, 

 usually ciliated at the margins with small prickles curved back- 

 wards. Plowers all perfect, white, in small cymes arranged in a 

 lax pyramidal panicle ; the branches ascending or spreading, 

 much longer than the leaves from the axils of which they spring. 

 Lobes of the corolla acute. Pruit glabrous, finely and irregularly 

 shagreened. Plant turning black in drying. 



Var. a, elongatum, 



Plate DCLIII. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1684. 



G. elongatum, Presl. Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. II. p. 39. Jord. Frag. III. p. 170. 



G. palustre, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 1857. 



