RUBIACEAE. 233 



Plantago lanceolata L. English Plantain. Perennial, with a stout tap- 

 root, erect, 30-45 cm. high, more or less pubescent; leaves 5-20 cm. long, 

 sparsely pubescent, woolly at the base of the broad petiole; spikes dense, 

 1-3 cm. long, a little thicker at the base; bracts and sepals scarious; flowers 

 all alike, perfect; capsule oblong, obtuse, 2-seeded ; seeds concave on the 

 inner face. Introduced in lawns and meadows as a weed. 



Plantago purshii R. & S. Annual, 5-30 cm. high, white-hairy or woolly 

 throughout; leaves 5-10 cm. long, 1-3-nerved, linear or lanceolate, acute, 

 narrowed at the base into a petiole; spikes dense, 1-10 cm. long; bracts subu- 

 late, exceeding the flowers, becoming rigid; flowers perfect but of two kinds on 

 separate plants, in one the four stamens being long and exserted, in the other 

 short and included; sepals oblong, obtuse, with broad scarious margins; 

 corolla white, the spreading lobes ovate. Dry soils. 



Family 85. RUBIACEAE. Madder Family. 



Herbs (in ours) ; leaves opposite, entire, with intervening 

 stipules or whorled without stipules; flowers generally perfect; 

 calyx 4- or 5-lobed or toothed, coherent with the ovary; corolla 

 gamopetalous, regular, 4- or 5-lobed or toothed; stamens on the 

 corolla and alternate with its lobes; ovary inferior, 2-5-celled; 

 endosperm hard, copious. 



Leaves whorled, without stipules. 348. Galium, 233. 



Leaves opposite, with stipules. 349. Kelloggia, 234. 



348. GALIUM. Bedstraw or Cleavers. 



Annual or perennial herbs with 4-angled stems; leaves whorled, 

 without apparent stipules; flowers small, usually cymose; calyx- 

 teeth obsolete; corolla rotate, 4-parted, rarely 3-parted; stamens 

 as many as the corolla-lobes, short; styles 2, short; stigmas capi- 

 tate; ovary 2-lobed, 2-celled; ovules solitary; fruit dry or fleshy, 

 globular, separating when ripe into 2 closed 1 -seeded carpels. 



Annuals. 



Leaves mostly in fours; stems smooth. G. bifolium. 



Leaves 6-8 in a whorl; stems rough on the angles. 



Stems reclining; fruit 4-6 mm. broad. G. aparine. 



Stems erect or ascending; fruit 2-3 mm. broad. G. vaillantii. 



Perennials. 



Stems woody at the base. G. multiflorum. 



Stems herbaceous. 



Leaves 3-nerved. G. boreale. 



Leaves 1-nerved. 



Fruit smooth; whorls of 4, 5, or 6 leaves. G. trifidum. 



Fruit not smooth; whorls of 6 leaves. 



Fruit granulate-scabrous. G. asperrimum. 



Fruit hispid with hooked hairs. G. Iriflorum. 



Galium bifolium Wats. Glabrous; stems erect, 10-20 cm. high, simple or 

 but little branched; leaves linear to oblanceolate, 8-15 mm. long, the upper 

 often in twos; peduncles 1-flowered, about as long as the leaves; flowers white. 

 In moist open places in the Blue Mountains at high altitudes. 



