200 FLOWERS OF THE ROADSIDES AND HEDGES 



root, seeking support from the surrounding herbage. The stems are 

 angular, four-sided, and rough, both the margins of the leaves and 

 angles of the stems being rough. The leaves are 6-8 in a whorl, 

 lance-shaped, coarsely hairy, and the midrib or central vein is also 

 rough below, and the prickles are more or less general and turned 

 back. The joints are finely hairy. The plant is a hook-climber. 



The flowers, which very quickly fall, are minute and white. The 

 cymes are axillary, and contain up to nine flowers, borne on spread- 

 ing flower-stalks. The flower-stalks are turned back in fruit. The 

 rounded fruits are very rough and roughly hairy, purple in tint, and 

 very clinging, a character implied by the second Greek name and the 

 English one. 



The stem may reach a length of 3 ft. or more. It is in flower from 

 May to August. The plant is annual and propagated by seeds. 



Here, as in other Galia, the flowers are white, but they are small, 

 and, though they have honey, which is unconcealed, they are less 

 likely to be visited by insects than any of the others. Usually the 

 flowers are hidden away in a tangle of herbage, and the flower must 

 rely on self-pollination for the perfection of its large and numerous 

 fruits. The anthers and stigma are close together, when pollinated 

 probably pollen is carried by the insects' feet. 



The fruits are hooked and catch in the coats of animals and are 

 thus dispersed, being distributed by the agency of animals. 



A sand soil suits Cleavers or Goose-grass best, and it is mainly a 

 sand-loving plant, but it will grow also on clay and is a clay-loving 

 plant, or more frequently on sandy loam. 



Three little fungi, Puccinia Galii, Peronospora calotkeca, Pse^^do- 

 pc~iza rcpanda, grow on it. It is also galled by Eriophyes galii. The 

 Humming-bird Hawk Moth, Macroglossa stellatarum, feeds upon it. 



It is called Airess, Airif, Airup, Aparine, Bedstraw, Beggar Lice, 

 Beggar Weed, Bleedy Tongues, Blind Tongue, Bur, Bur-head, Bur- 

 weed, Catch-rogue, Catch-weed, Chickweed, Claiton, Claver-grass, 

 Cleavers, Cleden, Cleeiton, Cleggers, Clever-grass, Glider, Cling-rascal, 

 Clitch Buttons, Clite, Clitheren, Clits, Cliver, Cly, Clyders, Errif, 

 Geckdor, Gux Grass, Gentleman's Tormentors, Goosebill, Goose- 

 grass, Goose-heiriffe, Gooseshare, Goose Tongue, Gosling Grass, 

 Gosling Scrotch, Gosling Weed, Grip-grass, Gull-grass, Gye, Hair- 

 weed, Harif, Haritch, Harvest Lice, Hedge-burs, Jack-in-the-hedge, 

 Lizzy-run-up-the-hedge, Robin-in-the-hedge, Robin-run-up-the-dyke, 

 Soldiers' Buttons, Stick-a-back, Stickle Back, Sweethearts' Tivers, 

 Tongue Bleeder, Withers Pail, Willy-run-hedge. 



