MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 67 



SWEET-SCENTED BEDSTRAW 



Galium triflorum. Madder Family 



Stems: ascending, a little roughened, shining. Leaves: in sixes, nar- 

 rowly oval ; peduncles slender, terminal, and axillary. Flowers : in threes, 

 or on three-branched pedicels. Fruit: hispid, with hooked hairs. 



The flowers of this species of Bedstraw always grow in 

 threes, or on three-branched stems, as might be inferred from 

 the name triflonim. The leaves are a trifle broader than those 

 of G. boreale, but the flowers of both have a four-lobed white 

 corolla. At all times, but especially when dried, this plant has 

 a sweet odour resembling that of vanilla. Its seeds are two- 

 lobed and are covered with tiny hooked hairs, which have 

 earned for it the descriptive name of "Cleaver," for verily its 

 burs cleave fast to anything with which they come in contact. 



WILD HELIOTROPE 



Valeriana sylvatica. Valerian Family 



Stems : erect from creeping rootstocks. Leaves : basal, oblong, entire ; 

 stem-leaves petioled, three-to-seven' foliolate, the divisions entire. Flowers : 

 cymose, paniculate, more or less dimorphous ; corolla funnel-form, five-lobed. 



So sweet is the smell of the Wild Heliotrope that few can 

 mistake it. The flowers are very handsome, white tinged 

 with mauve or pink, and grow in big clusters on the top of 

 juicy stalks from eight to eighteen inches high, and in two 

 small axillary clusters a few inches below the terminal cyme. 

 The foliage of this plant is handsome, the leaves being 

 strongly veined, glossy, and of a beautiful bright green colour. 



The margins of these leaves are entire, — that is, not cut or 

 toothed, — and herein Hes the difference between this plant and 

 V. sitchensis^ or White Heliotrope, which can only be readily 

 distinguished from it by the fact that the latter' s leaves are 

 coarsely dentate, the flowers of both species being almost 

 identical. A very noticeable feature of the Heliotropes is 

 their extremely long stamens. 



