Gnlium. urniACK/K 28.'] 



A large genus, disporsed througli all temperate regions. Wlien tlie uppermost leaves arc re- 

 duced to a single pair, they occasionally show some rudiments of the projx-r stijtules of tlit order. 

 In several Califoinian species the flowers are diiecious. — Tlic spocies, being ratlier numerous, 

 may be more readily determined by the aid of the following artificial key. 



Leaves mostly in whorls of eight. 4. G. Aparinr. 



Leaves all in sixes : frliit not liniry. f>. G. a.spi^ukimum. 



Leaves in fives and sixes : fruit hairy. 6. G. tiufi-oimfm. 



Leaves mostly in fives or sixes on tlie stem, in foura on the branches. 7. G. tkikidum. 



Leaves in fours, or some only in pairs. 

 Fruit berry-like, not haiiy. 



Low, hispid : leaves ovato : root filirous. L G. Calikornicum. 



Taller, with thicker woody root : leaves small, narrow. 2. G. Nuttallh. 



Porennial-tufted, dwarf : flowers perfect, white : leaves crowded, awl- 

 shaped. 14. G. Anduewsii. 

 Fruit dry. 



Low annual : leaves lanceolate : flowers perfect, white. 3. G. difolium. 



Perennials, with dull purple flowers. 



Leaves oblong-linear, minutely hirsute or nearly glabrous. 8. G. HobAN'DKRi. 



Leaves ovato or oblong, cinereous-pubescent. ii. (L rnnKNs. 



Perennial lierl), urect, wTiito-llowcrod ; leaves 3-norvcd, lanceolate. 10. G. uorkai.k. 

 Perennial, or woody at base : llowera dull yellowish or whitish, di<u- 

 cious : fruit long-hairy. 

 Tall: leaves linear. 11- G. ancu.stifomum. 



Low : leaves ovate or broadly lanceolate : fruit very long-haired. 



Glabrous and smooth. 12. G. BLOOMr.iii. 



Cinereous-puberulent. 13. G. multifi,orum. 



§ 1. Frnit herry-like at maturity, as in Madder. — Ukluunium, Eudl., Bcnth. tt Hook. 



1. G. Californicum, Hook. & Am. Low, mucli branched from an anntml (?) 

 reddish fibrous root, liispid Avith widely spreadinjf stiff hairs : leaves in fours, thin- 

 nish, ovate and ovate-lanceolate, cuspidately acute or mucronate : flowers dioeciously 

 polygamous ; the fertile ones solitary on short naked peduncles at the end of the 

 branches or on upper forks, recurved in fruit ; the sterile ones terminal in threes : 

 corolla yellowish ; its lobes ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous : fruit purple, gla- 

 brous or nearly so. — Bot. Beech, p. 349 ; Torr. & CJray, Fl. ii. 20, excl. var. 



Common from Ran Francisco southward towards the coast. The larger forms with less rigid 

 hairiness resemble the S. American G. Edbun (and like it are nyt to have a minutely hirsute 

 or pubescent ovary) ; hut that is well distinguished by a small 4-Icaved involucel at the apex of 

 tho poduncln, within wliicli tlio flower Is bobsIIo. 



2. G. Nuttallii, Gray. Stem rising from n thick ami firm or woody root or 

 rootstock, 1 to 3 foot high, or climbing higher on bushes, and much branching : 

 branchlots minutely aculoolate-scabrous on tho anglas : leaves in fours or tho upper- 

 most often only in pairs (3 to 5 or on branchlots only 2 or 3 lines long), thickish, 

 varying from ovate-oblong to linear-lanceolate, mostly smooth except the spinulose- 

 ciliate margins : flowers solitary, minute : lobes of the white corolla ovate : pedicels 

 naked, reflexed in fruit : ovary glabrous : fruit small, decidedly baccate. — PL 

 Wright, i. 80, in note. G. si{ffrnticnmm, Nutt. in 'J'orr. ^ Gray, 1. c. 



Hills and low grounds, Marin Co. to San Diego. Ai>parcutly varies greatly. Often "forms 

 thickets," or is supported on shrubs, in the manner of the eastern G. asjrrcllum. 



§ 2. Fruit dry at maturity. 



* Annvals : fruit viinutely hispid with hooked bristles : flowers perfect. 



3. G. bifolium, "Watson. Smooth and glabrous, small (3 to 6 inches high), at 

 length branched : leaves in depauperate specimens only a single pair, with bases 

 connected by a scarious sti]iular lino ; in vigorous sporimens 4 in the whorl.s, lance- 

 olate, the alternate pair (answering to stipules) from half to three .piartors smaller : 

 peduncles solitary, lateral and terminal, nake.l, l-flowc-rd, about equalling the 

 leaves when in friiit. spreading : corolla minufp, white : fruit recurved on tho apex 

 of tho pediinclo. — Hot. King. 134, t. M, tig. 8. 



