170 RUBIACE^K. ^MADDER FAMILY.) 



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

 ful if truly indigenous 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 greenish. 



2. O. asprcIIiiiH, Michx. (ROUGH BKDSTKAW.) Stem weak, much 

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

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

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

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

 covered with numerous but verv small white flowers. 



3. O. COnciliillllll, Torr. & Gr. Stems low, diffuse, with minutely 

 roughened angles ; leaves all in whorls of 6, linear, sliy/ttly pointed, veinless, the 

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

 panic-led at the summit; pedicels short; fruit smooth. Penn. and Michigan to 

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

 blackish in drying, like the rest. 



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

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

 of 4 to 6, linear or nb/anccolate, obtuse, the margins and midrib rough ; peduncles 

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

 Var. I. TINCTORIUM : stem stouter, with nearly smooth angles, and the parts 

 of the flower usually in fours. Var. 2. LATIF6LIUM (G. obtusum, Biyel.} : 

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

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



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

 reclining 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'-2' long) ; peduncles 3-Jlowered,thQ flowers all pcdicelled; 

 fntit bristly with hooked hair?. Rich woodlands, common. July. Lobes of 

 the greenish corolla pointed. (Eu.) 



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

 petal* jiiucronate or bristle-pointed : fruit densely hooked-bristly. 



6. G. Iil6sillll, Ait. Stem ascending, somewhat simple, hairy ; leaves in 

 fours, oval, dotted, hairy (1'long), scarcely 3-nenvd ; phun'l<<s twice or thrice 

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

 to Illinois and southward. Juno -Aug. Var. PIINCTICULOSUM is a nearly 

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



7. G. circrczans, Michx. (WILD LIQUORICE.) Smooth or downy, 

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

 mostly ohtnsc, 3-iicrrcd, ciliate (!'-!' long); peduncles usually once forked, the 

 branches //oi/i/n/tt! and widely diverging in fruit, b-arin;/ teooral ninote floivers 

 on nn/ short lati ral petKoeU, reflcxed in fruit; lobes of the corolla hairy outside 

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

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



8. G. laaiccolfttlllfl, Torr. (WiLD LIQUORICE.) Leaves in fmirf 



