^ ^8 GALIUM. [ctASS IV. ORDER t, 



liigli, round, liaiiy, esi)ecially in the lower part, hollow, leafy, slightly 

 branched above. Root leaves various, on footstalks, ovate, oblong cre- 

 nate, deeply cut or lyrate; those of the stem sessile, pinnatifid, with 

 linear segments. Flowers in somewhat convex, terminal heads, pale 

 purplish, on long naked stalks, Invohccnim of narrow hairy leaves, 

 longer than the flowers. Heceptacle scarcely hairy. Florets numerous, 

 hairy, five-oleft, unequal ; the outer ones larger than the others, and 

 forming a ray around the head. Fruit crowned by the persistent c«Zya? 

 of about five long, dark, roughish bristles. Involucelltwi hairy, forming 

 a tubular envelopement to the fruit ; the limb, thin, pale, membranous, 

 crenated, and plaited. 



Habitat. — Pastures and waste places, in chalky, limestone, and 

 clayey districts, in England. Rare in Scotland : near Arbroath, Ayr- 

 .shire, with white flowers— ilfr. G. Don : plentiful near Montrose and 

 Blackford — 3fr. Murray. 



Perennial ; flowering from July to August. 



GENUS IV. GA'LIUM. Linn. Bed-siraw. 



Nat. Orel. STELI.A'TiE. 



Gen. C'riAR. Corolla wheel or bell-shaped, four or five-cleft. Fruit 

 a dry, indehiscent pericarp, with two cells and two seeds, not 

 crowned by the calyx. — Name from yaXix, milk ; some species 

 having the property of curdling milk. 



* Fruit smooth. Floivers yellow. 



1. G. ve'rmn, Linn. (Fig. 222.) yellow Bed- straw. Leaves about 

 eight in a whorl, linear, grooved, entire; flowers in dense panicles. 



English Botany, t, 660. — English Flora, p. 208. — Lindley, Synopsis, 

 p. 130. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 65. 



Root with creeping underground stems, of a reddish hue. Flowering 

 stems erect, from one to two feet high, smooth or somewhat downy, 

 square, branched at the base with numerous whorls of linear reflexed 

 leaves, grooved, and of a bright green above, pale on the under side, 

 the margins rolled back, more or less rough, with short rigid points. 

 Inflorescence a dense, terminal, downy, branched panicle. Flowers 

 small, yellow, very numerous, having a luscious, honey-like smell. 

 Fi-uit blackish. 



Habitat. — Dry, waste, sandy places ; common. 



Perennial ; flowering from June to August. 



This plant, known by the names of Yellow Ladies' Bed-straw, Cheese 

 Renning, Petty Mugnet, and Yellow Goose-grass, is said to have been 

 used in cheese countries for the purpose of coagulating milk, and 



