Woodruff and Goosegrass es 
with hooked bristles still invests it, and these little 
hooks catching hold of the fur of mammals or the 
feathers of birds secure the dispersal of the seeds. 
There is a tendency in all these plants to develop 
flinty hairs or bristles on stems, leaves, or calyx; and 
in some the tendency 1s made to serve important ends. 
The true Madder (Rubia peregrina), from which the 
dye of the same name is prepared, has these in the 
shape of hooked prickles fringing the evergreen 
leaves, along the midribs, and the angles of the stems; 
but it does not develop them upon its fruit, which is 
a pulpy black berry much sought after by birds, as all 
black pulpy fruits are. The birds effectually disperse 
the seeds. The flowers in this species are greenish or 
yellowish. 
The remaining native genus of these Madderworts 
consists of the species of Bedstraw (Galium), which 
exhibit the general characters of the Madders and 
Woodruff, the leaves being arranged in whorls, but 
the stems are much longer. Two of them—Lady’s 
Bedstraw (G. verum) and the Crosswort (G. cruciata)— 
have yellow flowers to render them more attractive 
to beetles; the others have white or greenish flowers. 
There is no tube to the corolla, and the limb of the 
calyx forms a simple ring without teeth. The honey 
is secreted on a broad disk surrounding the branched 
style, whilst the four stamens are inserted between 
the lobes of the corolla. 
The Crosswort may be readily known from the 
other yellow-flowered species by its leaves, which are 
only four in a whorl arranged crosswise. The Hedge 
Bedstraw (G. mollugo) is a soft, smooth species, with 
long stems that hang over hedge-banks and produce 
