170 RUBIACE^E. (MADDER FAMILY.) 



flowers white; fruit (Iarr/e) bristly icith hooked prickles. Moist thickets. Doubt- 

 ful if truly indigLMious in our district. (Eu.) 



# * Perennial: leaves 4-6 (in the last species 8) in a wliorl. 

 *- Peduncles axillary and terminal, few-flowered : flowers white or (jrcenish. 



2. O asprelliim, Michx. (ROUGH BEDSTRAW.) Stem weak, much 

 bram-hrd, rungh backwards with hooked prickles, leaning on bushes (3 -5 

 high) ; linns in n-horls of 6, or 4- 5 on tlie branelilets, oval-lanceolate, ])ointe(l, with 

 almost ]>ii<-kly margins and midrih ; peduncles many, short, 2-3 times forked; 

 fivit usual!;/ smooth. Low thickets, common northward. July. Branchlets 

 covered with numerous but very small white flowers. 



8. O. COllcilUlllin, TOIT. & Gr. Stems low, diffuse, with minutely 

 roughened angles; leaves all in whorls of 6, linear, slia/itly pointed, veinless, the 

 margins upwardly roughened; peduncles slender, 2-3 times forked, somewhat 

 panicled at the summit; pedicels short ; fruit smooth. Peun. and Michigan to 

 Kentucky. June. Plant 6' -12' high, slender, but rather rigid, nol turning 

 blackish in drying, like the rest. 



4. O. triflclifiiis, L. (SMALL BEDSTRAW.) Stems weak, ascending 

 (5' -20' high), branching, roughened backwards on the angles ; leaves in whorls 

 of 4 to 6, linear or oblanceolate, obtuse, the margins and midrib rough ; peduncles 

 I -3-flowered; pedicels slender; corolla-lobes and stamens often 3; fruit smooth. 

 Var. 1. TINCT6RIUM : stem stouter, with nearly smooth angles, and the parts 

 of the flower usually in fours. Var. 2. LATirdLiuM (G. obtusum, 7%eM : 

 stem smooth, widely branched ; leaves oblong, quite rough on the midrib and 

 margins. Swamps; common, and very variable. June -Aug. (Eu.) 



5. O. trifl 6 I'll ill, Michx. ( SWEET-SCENTED BEDSTRAW.) Stem weak, 

 reclining or prostrate (l-3 long), bristly-roughened backwards on the angles, 

 shining ; leaves 6 in a wliorl, elliptical-lanceolate, bristle-pointed, with slightly 

 roughened margins (l'-2' long) ; peduncles 3-Jlowercd,tliG flowers all pedicelled; 

 fruit bristly with hooked hairs. Rich woodlands, common. July. Lobes of 

 the greenish corolla pointed. (Eu.) 



- - Peduncles several- flowered : flowers dull purple or brownish (rarely cream-color) ; 

 petals mucronate or bristle-pointed i fruit denselt/ hooked-bristly. 



6. O. pilosuill, Ait. Stem ascending, somewhat simple, hnlfij ; I 

 fours, oval, dotted, hairy (!' long), scarcely 3-nerved ; peduncles twice or thrice 

 2-3-forke<l, the. Jloin -rs all pedicelled. Dry copses, Rhode Island and Vermont 

 to Illinois and southward. June- Aug. Var. PUNCTICI LOSU.M is a nearly 

 smooth form (G. pum-ticulosum, Michx.) : Virginia and southward. 



7. G. circ&zaiis, Michx. (WILD LIQUORICE.) Smooth or downy, 

 erect or ascending (1 high) ; leaves in fours, oval, varying to ovate-oblong, 

 mostly olitiiM, 3-/U/-/VI/, ciliate (I'-l^' long); peduncle* nxu-t/ly once forked, the 

 bra/icht'K <-l<mtj<ited and widely diverging in fruit, bearing ^r, nil remnle _ 



on i', ,-ij N//O/V lateral p,dir<-ls, ivfli-xed in fruit; lobes of the forofla hairy outside 

 bove the middle. Uidi woods; common. June - Aug. The var. MONTA- 

 NDM is a dwarf, broad-h-aved form, from mountain woods. 



8. G. lauccolutuin, Torr. (WILD LIQUORICE.) Leaves in fours 



