2154 THE STELLATE TRIBE. 



Leaves 6 or 8, mostly pointed. 



Leaves nearly smooth 6. 0. taxatile. 



Leaves very rough 4. 0. uliginotw*. 



Annual*. Stems very rough at the edges, with adhesive hairs 



or minute prickles. 



Small, very slender plant. Fruit very small, granulated 7. <?. anglicum. 

 Coarse plants, very adhesive. Fruit rather large, usually 



covered with stiff hairs or tubercles. 

 Flowers 3 or more, in axillary panicles longer than 



the leaves. Fruiting pedicels straight . . .9. Q. Aparine. 

 Flowers 1 or 8, on axillary peduncles, shorter than 



the leaves. Fruiting pedicels rolled inwards . 10. G. tricorne. 



1. G. Cruciata, Scop. (fig. 471). Crosswort or Maywort. Stock 

 perennial and slender, with a few short, prostrate, or creeping barren 

 shoots ; the flowering stems erect or ascending, 6 to 18 inches long, 

 and hairy. Leaves in whorls of 4, ovate, 6 to 9 lines long, hairy on 

 both sides. Flowers small and yellow, in little leafy cymes or clusters, 

 shorter than, or scarcely so long as the leaves. Many of these flowers 

 are males only, and soon fall off, their reflexed pedicels remaining 

 till the stem withers. Fertile flowers few, and often 5-lobed. Fruits 

 small, smooth, almost succulent. 



On hedgebanks, and in bushy places, in central and southern Europe, 

 and eastward to the Caucasus. Common in England, and extending 

 into mid Scotland, but very rare in Ireland. PI. spring and early 

 ^ summer. 



2. G. verum, Linn. (fig. 472). Ladies' bedstraw. Rootstock woody, 

 often shortly creeping, the whole plant glabrous and smooth, or with 

 only a slight asperity on the edges of the leaves. Stems much 

 branched at the base, decumbent or ascending, 6 inches to above a 

 foot long, ending in an oblong panicle of very numerous small, yellow 

 flowers. Leaves small, linear, numerous, in whorls of 6 or 8. Fruits 

 small, and smooth. 



On banks and pastures, throughout Europe and central and Russian 

 Asia, except the extreme north. Abundant in Britain. PL the whole 

 "\. summer. 



3. G. palustre, Linn. (fig. 473). Marsh G.A. weak and slender, 

 glabrous perennial, more generally blackening in drying than any of 

 the following. Stems a foot or more long, with few spreading branches, 

 almost always rough on the angles. Leaves mostly 4 in a whorl, 

 occasionally 5, very rarely 6, linear or oblong, obtuse, without the 

 small point of the three following species ; mostly, but not always, 

 rough on the edges. Flowers small, and white, not very numerous, in 

 spreading panicles ; the lobes of the corolla without the fine point of 

 G. Mottugo. Fruit rather small, slightly granulated. 



In marshes and wet places, often quite in the water, but sometimes 

 also in drier situations, and even hanging from the clefts of rocks, 

 extending all over Europe and Russian Asia, from the Mediterranean 

 to the Arctic Circle. Common in Britain. Fl. summer. 



4. G. uliginosum, Linn. (fig. 474). Swamp G. Differs from G. 

 palustre in its leaves, either 6 or 8 in a whorl, usually narrower, 

 terminated by a fine point, and less disposed to turn black in drying ; 

 from the slender varieties of G. taxatile, in its stem very rough on the 

 angles, and often 1 to 2 feet long. 



Dispersed over Eurooe and Russian Asia, and occurs in various parts 



