164 RUBiACEiE. [Spermacoce. 



inner face, whilst the other is usually closed by the thin dissepiment adhering 

 to it. — S. articidaris, Linn, fil.; DC. 1. c. S. scabra, Willd., DC. 1. c. 



In waste places, Champion, Wright. A common weed throughout India, varying much, 

 as observed by Wight and Arnott, in the length and thickness of the tube of the corolla, but 

 as far as can be judged from herbarium specimens, which are so often without good corollas, 

 these differences do not appear to correspond to any other characters. 



20. KNOXIA, Linn. 



Calyx-limb of 4 minute persistent teeth. Corolla-tube slender ; lobes 4, 

 valvate in the bud. Anthers scarcely exserted. Style with 2 short stigmatic 

 lobes. Ovary 2-celled, with 1 pendulous ovule in each cell. Fruit small and 

 dry ; the 2 carpels either separating from the base upwards or falling off toge- 

 ther, leaving a persistent filiform axis. — Herbs or undershrubs. Stipules 1 

 on each side, usually fringed with bristle-like teeth. Flowers in terminal 

 cymes or corymbs ; the branches often lengthened into one-sided spikes. 



A small genus, limited to tropical Asia and Africa. 



1. K. corymbosa, Willd.; W. and Am. Trod. i. 439; Wight, Illustr. 

 t. 128. A perennial, 1 to 2 ft. high, often almost woody at the base, more 

 or less pubescent, and but little branched. Leaves oblong, lanceolate or 

 rarely nearly ovate, 2 to 3 in. long. Mowers about 1^ lines long, numerous, 

 in loose, terminal, dichotomous cymes. Capsule ovoid, about 1 line long, 

 usually falling off entire from the filiform persistent axis. 



Hongkong, Champion, Wright. Extends over tropical Asia, from Ceylon and the Penin- 

 sula to the Archipelago. 



21. GALIUM, Linn. 



Calyx completely combined with the ovary, without any visible border. 

 Corolla rotate ; the tube scarcely perceptible, with 4 spreading lobes, valvate 

 in the bud. Anthers exserted. Style short, deeply 2-cleft. Ovary 2-celled, 

 with 1 ascending or laterally attached ovule in each cell. Fruit small, dry, 

 2-lobed, indehiscent. — Herbs, with w T eak quadrangular stems. Leaves sessile, 

 in whorls of 4, 6, or 8, of which 2 are real leaves and the remainder stipules, 

 although precisely similar in shape and size. Flowers small, in axillary or 

 terminal trichotomous cymes or panicles. 



An extensive genus, spread over the whole of the temperate regions of the globe, especially 

 abundant in Europe and northern Asia, with very few tropical species, and those chiefly 

 limited to mountain regions. 



1, G. Aparine, Linn. ; DC. Trod. iv. 608. A trailing or climbing an- 

 nual, often several feet long, clinging by the recurved asperities or small 

 prickles on the angles of the stems, and on the edges and midribs of the 

 leaves. Leaves 6 or 8 in a whorl, linear or linear-lanceolate, often above an 

 inch long. Peduncles axillary, rather longer than the leaves, bearing a loose 

 cyme of from 3 to 8 or 10 small greenish-white flowers, with 3 or 4 leaves at 

 the base of the cyme. Pedicels 2 to 4 lines long, straight or but slightly 

 recurved. Fruits usually covered with hooked bristles, forming small very- 

 adhesive burrs. — G. sororium, Hance in Walp. Ann. ii. 734. 



In hedges, Hance, probably introduced from Europe, where, as well as in central and 

 northern Asia, it is very abundant, and from whence it has been carried with cultivation to 

 most parts of the globe. 



