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310 RUBIACE.C Galium. 



Stem 4-8 feet long, trailing or supported by other plants, with numerous short branches. 

 Whorls rather remote ; the leaves (sometimes only 6)1-2 inches long and 2-3 lines wide, 

 tapering to the base. Flowers very small, white. Fruit larger tlian in most other species of 

 the genus, densely clothed with short white hooked hairs. 



Shady thickets, margins of woods and along fences : common in the neighborhood of New- 

 York ; rather rare in the interior of the State. Fl. May. Perhaps introduced from Europe. 



^ 2. EcGALiTM, DC. Root perennial: peduncles 3 - many-fioicered. 



* FloiMrs white or somclimcs greenish ; pcduneks axiUary or terminal, fetc-jlowercd, occasionally somewhat clustered al the 



cxlrcmily of the brandies. 



2. Galium trifidum, Linn. Small Bedstraw. 



Stem flaccid, decumbent or ascending, branching, the angles retrorsely scabrous ; leaves in 

 whorls of 4 - 6 (the lower frequently 5 or 6, the upper 4 or 5), linear or oblanceolate , the 

 margin and midrib minutely (often retrorsely) aculeolate-scabrons ; peduncles axillary and 

 terminal, 1 - 3-flowered ; lobes of the corolla and stamens often 3 ; fruit smooth and even. — 

 Linn. sp. 1. p. 105 ; Fl. Dan. t. 48 ; Pursh, Jl.\. p. 103 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 165 ; Bigel. fl. 

 Bost. p. 56 ; DC. prodr. 4. p. 597 ; Beck, hot. p. 161 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 99 ; Torr. ^ 

 Gr. fl. N. Am. 2. p. 22. G. Claytoni, Micha:. fl. I. p.78\ Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 288. 



var. tinctorixim : stem (usually stouter) scarcely or not at all rough ; lobes of the corolla 

 and stamens mostly 4. Torr. <^ Gr. I. c. G. tinctorium, Linn. I. c. ; Pursh, I. c. ; Torr. 

 I. c; DC. I. c; Darlingt. I. c. p. 100. 



var. latifolium : stem diffuse, not rough ; leaves elliptical or oblong, the margins and midrib 

 manifestly ciliolate-scabrous. Torr. fl. 1. p. 165; Torr. ^- Gr. I. c. G. obtusum, Bigel. 

 fl. Bost. p. 55 ; Beck, hot. p. 162. 



Stem sometimes only a few inches high, but usually a foot or eighteen inches, at first erect, 

 but finally diffuse and assurgent. Leaves often only four in a whorl, about three-fourths of 

 an inch long, variable in breadth, usually very narrow, but in the second variety sometimes 

 3-4 Knes wide. Pedicels of the fruit slender. Fruit very small. 



Swamps and moist shady woods. Fl. June - July. Fr. August - September. Indigenous 

 also to the north of Europe. The two varieties have been regarded as distinct species from 

 G. trifidum by many botanists, but they are all connected by intermediate forms, so that it is 

 impossible to separate them by any constant marks. All our varieties usually turn black in 

 drying. 



3. Galium asprellum, Michx. Rough Bedstraw. 



Stem diffuse, much branched, the angles very rough with minute and rigid retrorse prickles; 

 leaves 6 (those of the branchlets often 4 - 5) in a whorl, elliptical or lanceolate, mucronate or 

 acuminate, the margins and midrib aculeolate-hispid ; branches 2 - 3-forked ; pedicels filiform. 



