MADDER TRIBE. 303 



taining a colouring matter in their roots, which is used 

 as a dye. This group has been separated by some 

 botanists, and made to constitute a distinct order, under 

 the name of STELLATE, a name particularly appropriate 

 to them, from the star-like arrangement of their leaves. 

 The most important of all of these is Eubia tinctoria, 

 the roots of which afford Madder, a valuable dye, and 

 possess the singular property of imparting a red colour 

 to the bones of animals which feed on them. Other 

 species of Eubia, growing in Bengal and China, are 

 also used as a dye. No, British species are of any great 

 value, though it is said that the seeds of Gdlium, when 

 roasted, are a good substitute for coffee, and the flowers 

 of Gdlium verum are used as rennet to curdle milk. 

 The most attractive British species is Woodruff, well 

 known for the fragrance of its leaves when dry. 



1. EUBIA (Madder). Corolla wheel-shaped, or bell- 

 shaped ; stamens 4 ; fruit a 2-lobed berry. (Name, from 

 the Latin ruber, red, from the dye of that colour afforded 

 by some species.) 



2. GALIUM (Bed-straw). Corolla wheel-shaped ; 

 stamens 4 ; fruit dry, 2-lobed, 2-seeded, not crowned 

 by the calyx. (Name, from the Greek gala, milk, for 

 curdling which some species are used.) 



3. ASP^RULA (Woodruff). Corolla funnel-shaped; 

 stamens 4 ; fruit dry, 2-lobed, 2-seeded, not crowned by 

 the calyx. (Name, from the Latin asper, rough, from 

 the roughness of the leaves of some species. ) 



4. SHERARDIA (Field-Madder). Corolla funnel- 

 shaped ; stamens 4 ; fruit dry, 2-lobed, 2-seeded, crowned 

 by the calyx. (Named in honour of James Sherard, an 

 eminent English botanist.) 



1. EUBIA (Madder). 



1. R. peregrina (Wild-Madder). The only British 

 species, common in bushy places in the south-west of 

 England. A long straggling plant, many feet in length, 

 with remarkably rough stems and leaves, the latter 



