MADDER TRIBE 107 



Ruhia tinct&ria. Mr. Belcliier, after making various experiments on the 

 subject, communicated the results to the Royal Society. Singular prepara- 

 tions were afterwards made, by which animals were fed alternately on 

 madder and on their customary food : by these means the constant deposition 

 of osseous matter, and its constant removal, were clearly marked by the 

 white or red colours, while the entire withdrawal of the plant for some days 

 caused the total disappearance of the red hue in the bones of the animals. 

 The French formerly considered the Yellow Bedstraw of much medicinal 

 efficacy in hysteria and epilepsy. The plant is common throughout Europe, 

 enlivening everywhere the fields of Siberia, as it does ours, with its bright 

 blossoms. 



It is thought that the name of Bedstraw is derived from the old English 

 word, to straw or strow, and that these plants were used for strewing over 

 floors. Thus we find in churchwardens' accounts of former days various 

 items for " strawenge of yerbes ;" but a more direct origin is found in the 

 fact, that straw, as well as herbs, was formerly used for beds, and that some 

 imaginative monk or nun thought that this plant, from its beauty and 

 sweetness, should form " Our Lady's Bedstraw." The old historian 

 Fitz-Stephen, who was secretary to Thomas a Becket, tells of one who held 

 a manor in Aylesbury, on condition of finding litter for the king's bed; 

 namely, grass or herb in summer, and straw in winter, three times in the 

 year, on the king's visit to Aylesbury. In as late a period as the reign of 

 Henry VIII., the beds were filled with straw, even the king's bed being of 

 that material. 



2. Cross-wort Bedstraw {G. cntcidtum). — Leaves 4 in a whorl, egg- 

 shaped, hairy ; flowers in small axillary cymes ; fruit-stalks bending down- 

 wards. This species is often called Mugweed, and is a common plant of our 

 hedge-banks and thickets, its hairy or downy stem being about two feet in 

 height. Its dull yellow blossoms appear in May and June, and form little 

 clusters of about eight flowers, which are seated in the axils of the leaves, 

 the upper blossoms having pistils only, the lower ones only stamens. It is 

 well distinguished by having its leaves arranged four together in the form 

 of a cross. It was formerly considered, when bruised, a good remedy for 

 wounds. 



* * Flowers white ; root perennial. 



3. Smooth Heath Bedstra^v {G. saxdtile). — Leaves about 6 in a whorl, 

 inversely egg-shaped, pointed ; stem much branched, smooth, prostrate below. 

 This species, as its name imports, is to be found on open sunny places, as 

 heaths, hill-sides, and mountains, and it is a common plant. Its stem is 

 much branched, and its numerous and dense panicles of flowers, often from 

 June to August, whiten the grassy spots by their profusion. The greater 

 number of the white-flowered species have their blossoms in few and 

 scattered panicles, so as to make no great show ; but this species, with its 

 milk-white clusters, is, like the Yellow Bedstraw, rendered ornamental by 

 their numbers. The edges of the leaves are sometimes fringed by a few 

 prickles, pointing forwards. It is usually a low-growing plant, but in moist 

 places is sometimes a foot high. It turns black in drying. 



14—2 



