Vol. in.] 



MADDER FAMILY. 



225 



19. Galium palustre Iy. Marsh Bedstraw 



Galium palustre I*. Sp. PI. 105. 1753. 

 Galium trifidum var. bifolium Macoun, Cat. Can. 

 Plants, 202. 1884? 



Perennial, stem erect and rather slender, 

 about 16' high ; internodes very long (middle 

 one ly^'-if long) ; short branches mostly in 2's. 

 Stem sharply 4-angled, glabrous or a" little 

 rough; leaves in typical specimens rather 

 small, in 2's to 6's, linear-elliptic to spatulate, 

 cuneate at the base, obtuse, 3 // -S // long, i // - 

 2" wide, the rather firm margins and the 

 midrib slightly scabrous, not papillose; flowers 

 numerous in terminal and lateral cymes; brac- 

 teoles in the inflorescence minute; pedicels in 

 flower ascending, \%"-2y z " long, in fruit 

 strongly divaricate; corolla large, white, i/'- 

 T-U" broad, 4-parted, the lobes oblong, acute; 

 disk almost obsolete; fruit glabrous; endosperm 

 of the seed grooved on the inner face, in cross- 

 section lunate. 



In damp shady or open places along roadsides 

 and ditches, or in the margins of swamps. New- 

 foundland, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, 

 to Massachusetts and New York. Also in Europe. 



(Fig. 3426.) 



20. Galium concinnum Torr. 

 Gray. Shining Bedstraw. 

 (Fig. 3+27.) 



& 



Galium parviflorum Raf. Med. Rep. (II) 5: 



360. 1808? 

 Galium concinnum T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2: 23. 1841. 



Perennial, glabrous, shining, usually much 

 branched, the angles of the stem and edges 

 of the leaves minutely scabrous. Leaves usu- 

 ally all in 6's, linear or sometimes broader 

 above the middle, narrowed at the base, 

 blunt-pointed, or minutely cuspidate, 4 // -6 // 

 long, x f, -\% ,f wide, green in drying; pedun- 

 cles filiform; pedicels short; flowers minute, 

 white, numerous in open cymes; fruit small, 

 glabrous; endosperm deeply grooved. 



In dry woodlands, western New Jersey to Vir- 

 ginia, west to Minnesota and Arkansas. June- 

 Aug. 



21. Galium asprellum Michx. Rough 

 Bedstraw. (Fig. 3428.) 



Galium asprellum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 78. 1803. 

 Perennial, weak, much branched and reclining 

 on bushes, or sometimes erect; stem retrorsely 

 hispid, 2-6 long. Leaves in 6's or 5's, or those 

 of the branches rarely in 4's, narrowly oval or 

 slightly oblanceolate, cuspidate at the apex, nar- 

 rowed at the base, sometimes so much so as to ap- 

 pear petioled, 4 // -8 // long, i // -2 // wide, their 

 margins and midribs rough; cymes terminal and 

 axillary, several-many-flowered; flowers white; 

 fruit smooth and glabrous, about i // broad; endo- 

 spernf with a'shallow groove. 



In moist soil,. Newfoundland to western Ontario, 

 south to ^ North Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin and 

 Nebraska^ Called also Pointed Cleavers. Ascends 

 to 3500 ft. in the Adirandacks. June-Aug. 



15 



