170 RUBIACE.<E. (MADDER FAMILY.) 



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

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



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

 t- Peduncles axillary and terminal, few-flowered : Jlowers ivhite or greenish. 



2. G. asprclllim, Michx. (Rouon 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. O. COnciimiim, 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. Pemi. and Michigan to 

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

 blackish in drying, like the rest. 



4. G. trifidilDi, 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 



1 - 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. LATIF6LIUM (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. trifloruna, 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 ( 1 ' - 2' long) ; peduncles 3-flowered, the flowers all pedicelled ; 

 fruit bristly with hooked hair <i. Rich woodlands, common. July. Lobes of 

 the greenish corolla pointed. (Eu.) 



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

 petals mucrmiate or bristle-pointed : fruit densely hooked-bristly. 



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

 fours, oval, dotted, hairy (1'long), scarcely 3-nerved; peduncles twice or thrice 



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

 to Illinois and southward. June -Aug. Var. ruNCTicuL6suM is a nearly 

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



7. G. circffeza;i, 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'-lj ; long); peduncles usually once forked, the 

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

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

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

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



8. G. laiiccei atlim, lorr. (WiLD LIQUORICE.) Leaves in four? 



