UUBIACE^. 231 



Yorkshire. The Uev. W. W. Newbould informs me that Mr. W. W. 

 Kecves occasionally finds it about Darenth, Kent ; and that Buddie 

 says, in his MS. Elora (Sloane MSS. 2975 b, fol. 15), " this was given 

 me by Mr. Vernon as a plant growing in Yorkshire ; and Mcrret 

 says it grew in woods at Hampstead : but notwithstanding these 

 authorities, I much question whether this be indigenous." 



[England.] Annual. Early Summer. 



Stem weak, slender, 3 to 12 inches high, branched througliout, 

 the branches simple, ascending-spreading. Leaves J to 1 inch long, 

 narrowed towards the base, in distant whorls ; the persistent coty- 

 ledons opposite, obovate. Elowers J inch across, pale-blue, resem- 

 bling those of Sherardia arvensis, in sessile terminal heads. Eruit 

 large for the size of the plant, smooth. Plant light-green, subgla- 

 brous, the leaves often roughish below. 



The much longer and narrower leaves will distinguish this plant 

 at first sight from Sherardia arvensis. 



jBlue Field Woodruff. 



French, Asperule des Champs. German, Ackermeier. 



GENUS IV.— S HERARDIA. Zinn. 



Calyx-limb of 4 to 6 acrescent teeth. Corolla salver-shaped, 

 with a long cylindrical tube and a spreading 4-cleft limb. 

 Stamens 4. Eruit didymous, of 2 dry indehisccnt cocca, crowned 

 by the calyx-teeth, separating from each other when ripe. 



A genus containing a single species, with the habit of Galium, 

 but differing in the funnel-shaped lilac corolla and the fruit crowned 

 by the calyx-teeth. 



This genus of plants was named by Dillenins after his patron and friend William 

 Sherard, LL.D., consul at Smyrna. He was born at Bushby, in Leicestershire, in 1G59, 

 and died in 1728. He was a distinguished patron of science, the reputed author of 

 " Scholse Botanicae," founder of the botanical professorship at Oxford, and the collector 

 of twelve thousand species of dried plants. 



SPECIES I.— SHERARDIA ARVENSIS. Linn. 

 Plate DCLXIII. 

 Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 568. 



The only known species. 



In cultivated ground, hedge-banks, and waste places. Common, 

 and generally distributed, except in the extreme North of 



Scotland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual or Biennial. 

 Spring to Autumn. 



