RUBIACE^— MADDER TRIBE 105 



different latitudes, each on the extreme limits of the Northern and Southern 

 range." 



The Swedish Government granted the Liimcea boredlis to Linnaeus as a 

 crest for his coat of arms ; and letters are yet extant sealed with the seal 

 which the botanist had caused to be engraved with this flower. 



Order XLIII. RUBIACE.E— MADDER TRIBE. 



Calyx 4 or 6-lobed, or wanting ; corolla 4 — 6-lobed, wheel-shaped, bell- 

 shaped, or tubular, regular, the number of its divisions equal to those of the 

 calyx ; stamens 3 to 5, alternate with the lobes of the corolla ; ovary 2-celled ; 

 styles 2 ; stigmas 2 ; fruit a pericarp, with 2 cells and 2 seeds. This is a 

 very important and a very large order, but all the European species are 

 comprised in the group called Stellatce, or Rubiacese proper. These are 

 natives of the northern hemisphere, and many of them are weeds — the most 

 valuable plant is the Madder, the roots of the Paihia tindoria being one of the 

 most useful dyes yet known. Several species possess in a greater or less 

 degree roots which might be used in dyeing. Some species, like the Squinancy- 

 Avort, are somewhat astringent ; but it is to the plants of warm climates, 

 contained in the order in its more extended form, that we owe so many 

 valuable articles of food and medicine. Coffee, Peruvian Bark, Quinine, 

 and many other important products, are derived from species of Rubiacese. 



1. Madder (Rnlna). — Corolla wheel-shaped or bell-shaped, 5-lobed ; 

 stamens 4 ; fruit, a 2-lobed berry. Name from the Latin ruber, red, from the 

 red dye afibrded by some species. 



2. Bed-straw (Gdlmm). — Corolla wheel-shaped, usually 4-lobed ; stamens 

 4 ; fruit dry, 2-lobed, 2-seeded, not crowned by the calyx. Name from the 

 Greek gala, milk, some species being used for curdling milk. 



3. Woodruff {Asperula). — Corolla funnel-shaped, 4-lobed ; stamens 4 ; 

 fruit dry, 2-lobed, 2-seeded, not crowned with the calyx. Name from asper, 

 rough, in allusion to the hispid character of some species. 



4. Field Madder (Sherdrdia). — Corolla fimnel-shaped, 4-lobed; stamens 4 ; 

 fruit dry, 2-lobed, 2-seeded, crowned by the calyx. Named from James 

 Sherard, an English botanist. 



1. Madder (B^bia). 



Wild Madder (E. peregrina). — Leaves 4 — 6 in a whorl, oval, or lanceo- 

 late, and glossy, the margins and midrib prickly ; corolla wheel-shaped, 

 5-cleft ; root perennial. This plant grows locally throughout the extreme 

 southern counties of England, in stony and sandy thickets, especially near 

 the sea ; also in Wales and Herefordshire, East and South Ireland, and the 

 Channel Islands. It has long straggling stems, with whorls of stiff evergreen 

 leaves, very glossy on their upper surface, and bending under at the margins. 

 The stems are very rough, and the plant in an early stage much resembles 

 the common goose-grass. The small flowers appear from June to August ; 

 they grow in panicles, and are of a yellowish or greenish white hue. On one 

 or two spots of the sea-cliffs at the east of Dover, the plant forms large 



II.— 14 



