170 RUBiACE.fi. (MADDER FAMILY.) 



flowers white ; fruit (large) bristly with hooked prickles. Moist thickets. Doubt 

 fal if truly indigenous in our district. (Eu.) 



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

 +- Peduncles axillary and terminal, few-flowered : flowers white or greenish. 



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

 branched, rough backwards with hooked prickles, leaning on bushes (3 - 5 

 high) ; leaves in whorls of 6, or 4-5 on the branchlets, oval-lanceolate, pointed, with 

 almost prickly margins and midrib ; peduncles many, short, 2-3 times forked ; 

 fruit usually smooth. Low thickets, common northward. July. Branchlets 

 covered with numerous but very small white flowers. 



3. G. concinnum, Torr. & Gr. Stems low, diffuse, with minutely 

 roughened angles ; leaves all in whorls of 6, linear, slightly pointed, veinless, the 

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

 panicled at the summit; pedicels short ', fruit smooth. Dry soil, Michigan to 

 Kentucky. June. Plant 6' -12' high, slender, but rather rigid, not turning 

 blackish in drying, like the rest. 



4. O. trifidum, L. (SMALL BBDSTRAW.) 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 - ^-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, Bigel. ) : 

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

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



5. G. triflorum, Michx. (SWEET-SCENTED BEDSTRAW.) Stem weak, 

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

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

 roughened margins (l f -2' long) ; peduncles 3-flowered, the 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 : fruit densely hooked-bristly. 



6. O. pilosuill, Ait. Stem ascending, somewhat simple, hairy ; leaves in 

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

 2-3-forked, the flowers all pedicelled. Dry copses, Rhode Island and Vermont 

 to Illinois and southward. June - Aug. Var. PUNCTicuL6suM is a nearly 

 smooth form (G. puncticulosum, Michx.) : Virginia and southward. 



7. O. circ&zans, Michx. (WILD LIQUORICE.) Smooth or downy, 

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

 mostly obtuse, 3-nerved, ciliate (l'-l ; long); peduncles usually once forked, the 

 branches elongated and widely diverging in fruit, bearing several remote flowers 

 on very short lateral pedicels, reflexed in fruit ; lobes of the corolla hairy outside 

 above the middle. Rich woods ; common. June - Aug. The var. MONTX- 

 HUM is a dwarf, broad-leaved form, from mountain woods. 



8. G. lailCCOliitllHl, Torr. (WiLD LIQUORICE ) leaves in fours. 



