106 RUBIACE^ 



patches, which in winter still wear their leaves and fruits, the foliage looking 

 as if cut out of thin sheets of copper, and the black berries being about the 

 size of currants. In the neighbourhood of Bristol it used to be so abun- 

 dant as to take the place of the common goose-gi-ass among the bushes. 

 Mr. Peter Inchbald thought that it attains its northern limit at Llandudno 

 in North Wales. The larger stems of the plant are round, but when 

 young they are square. The root contains some of that colouring matter 

 which renders the true Madder so valuable ]>oth to dyers and colour-makers. 



2. Bedstraw (Gdlmm). 



* Boot perennial ; flowers yellow. 



1. Yellow Bedstraw {G. vdrum). — Leaves 8 to 12 in a whorl, linear; 

 flowers in dense panicles. During the summer, from June to September, 

 many of our dry sunny banks and green sloping pastures, especially near the 

 sea, are gay with the golden blooms of this plant, contrasting with the rich 

 dark green tint of the slender leaves. Although the flowers are small, yet, 

 growing in large and dense clusters, they are very conspicuous, and they have 

 a sweet honey -like scent. As this species is by far the most attractive of the 

 genus, it probably gained for it the name of Lady's Bedstraw, which was 

 doubtless, in the old time. Our Lady's Bedstraw. The French call the plant 

 Gaillet, and Petit Muguet ; the G-ermans term it Labkraut ; the Dutch, JValstro ; 

 the Italians, Gaglio ; and the Spaniards, C^iaja leche. It was formerly used 

 in Cheshire for coagulating the milk for making cheese, and hence had the 

 old name of Cheese-rennet. Matthiolus says that it produces a very agree- 

 able flavour, and makes the cheese eat sweeter ; but the author of these pages 

 considers that the milk in which it has been placed retains, in consequence, 

 a very disagreeable taste. A slight and subtle acid exists in the plant, and 

 vinegar has been made from its juices. Dr. Lister, writing to the great 

 naturalist, John Eay, says that he obtained vinegar from the Yellow Bed- 

 straw ; adding, " It is a rare experiment, and is owing, for aught I know, to 

 Borrichius : you will see a further account of it in the ' Danish Transactions.' " 

 The whole plant boiled in alum affords a good yellow dye, and the roots 

 yield a red colour, equal or superior to that of the true madder. They have 

 long been used for dyeing in the Scottish islands, and were, some years 

 since, recommended for general culture by the Committee of the Council of 

 Trade ; but, though the colour is rich, the roots are too small to render the 

 plant a profitable crop. As in the case of the true Madder, and of several 

 allied species, the bones of animals are turned red by feeding on the plant. 

 This colouring takes place sooner in young than in fully grown animals, and 

 is deepest in those whose bones are hardest and thickest. This property of 

 the madder and its allies is the more remarkable, because it is not shared by 

 other plants which, like the woad and saffron, are used in dyeing. It was 

 first noted by John Belchier, an English surgeon, who, having dined with a 

 cotton-printer, observed that the bones of some pork on the table were of a 

 bright red hue. On expressing his surprise, his host explained to him that 

 this was in consequence of the swine having been fed on bran and water in 

 which cloth had been previously boiled, and which was coloured by th^. 



