236 



RUBIACE^ 



I. 7?. peregrina (AVild Madder). — The only British species, a 

 long straggling plant, many feet in length ; sterns 4-angled, with 

 recurved bristles on the angles ; leaves 4 — 6 in a whorl, ovate, 

 glossy above, with recurved bristles on midrib and margin, nearly 

 evergreen ; flowers yellowish, in panicled cymes ; corolla 5-cleft ; 

 berries black, about as large as currants, remaining attached till 

 late in winter. — Rocky places in the south and west ; uncommon. 

 ■ — Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



2. Galium (Bedstraw). 



RiJBiA PEREGRINA (Wild Maddcr). 



Herbs differing chiefly from Rubia in 

 having a rotate, 4-lobed, rarely 5- 

 lobed, corolla and a dry fruit of 

 2 I -seeded carpels. (Name from 

 the Greek gala, milk, some species 

 being used to curdle it.) 



^ Leaves yveined 



1. G. boredle (Cross-leaved Bed- 

 straw). — Stem erect, i — 2 feet 

 high ; leaves 4 in a whorl, smooth, 

 lanceolate ; flowers many, white ; 

 fruit rough, with hooked prickles. 

 — Damp rocky places in the north. 

 — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



2. G. Crucidta (Crosswort). — 

 Prostrate, about a foot long, hairy ; 

 leaves 4 in a whorl, elliptic, soft 

 and downy; flowers yellow, in 

 6 — 8-flowered axillary cymes, very 

 fragrant, upper ones having pistils 

 only, lower, stamens only ; fruit 

 smooth. — Dry banks ; common — • 

 Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



■** Leaves iveined: flowers in axillary and terminal panicles : fruit 

 smooth : perennial 



3. G. verum (Lady's Bedstraw). — Leaves diboui 8 in a whorl, very 

 narrow (almost thread-like), revolute, downy beneath ; flowers 

 golden-yellow, rarely pale or green, in dense axillary and terminal 

 panicles. — Dry banks ; abundant. The Highlanders use the roots, 

 in conjunction with alum, to die red, and the flowers to curdle 

 milk — Fl. June — September. Perennial. 



4. G. erectum (Upright Bedstraw). — Sub-erect ; leaves 6 — 8 in a 

 whorl, lanceolate, with bristly margins ; cyme with ascending 



