CtAgS IT. ORDER I. I GALIUM. 179 



giving a rich colour to the curd, for which purpose it is still used by 

 the Highlanders, in combination with the leaves of the counnon Nettle, 

 Ur'tica dio'ica, and a little salt. Boiled with alum-water, it has the 

 property of tinging woollen goods of a yellow colour; and the flowers 

 were long employed in various forms as a cure in epileptic and hyste- 

 rical complaints, but are now out of use. The roots, according to Mr. 

 Curtis, yield a fine red colouring matter not inferior to madder, and 

 are boiled by the Highlanders with the yarn, adding alum to fix the 

 colour. The roots are too small to render its cultivation as a substitute 

 for madder profitable. 



2. G. crucia'tum, Linn. (Fig. 223.) Crosstvort Bcd-strau; Mugweed. 

 Leaves four in a whorl, ovate, hairy ; flowers in small, stalked, 

 axillary clusters, each with a pair of small leaves. 



English Botany, t. 143. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 199. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 129. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 65. 



Root with creeping underground stems. Stem from ten to eighteen 

 inches high, branched at the base, weak, angular, simple above, clothed 

 with simple hairs. Leaves ovate, four in a whorl, sessile, soft with 

 hairs, having a strongish midrib and several lateral, slender, parallel 

 ones. Inflorescence in small axillary corymbs, the common stalk bear- 

 ing a pair, sometimes a whorl of four small leaves. Flowers on short 

 stalks, small, yellow, from three to five-cleft ; some perfect, bearing 

 stamens and pistil ; others with stamens or pistils only. Fruit con- 

 cealed by the leaves, which gradually rise and are deflexed over them 

 as they become perfect, thus forming a protection to them, and con- 

 cealing them from birds. 



Habitat. — Hedges, banks, and shady places ; frequent. 



Perennial; flowering from May to June. 



** Fruit smooth. Flowers white. 



3. G. palus'tre, Linn. (Fig. 224.) tihite Water Bed-straw. Leaves 

 from four to six in a whorl, unequal in size, oblongo-lanceolate, 

 obtuse, tapering at the base ; stem weak, spreading, branched, 

 and, as well as tire leaves, more or less rough. 



«. Stem and leaves smoothish. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 65. 

 — Galium pahts'trce, English Botany, t. 1857.— English Flora, 

 p. 200. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 128. 



/3. Nerves at the back and margins of the Icives, and angles of the 

 stem, distinctly rough, with mostly reflcxed prickles. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 65. — Ga'linm Witherin'gii, English Bo- 

 tany, t. 2206. — English Flora, vol. i. p. 200. — Lindley, Synopsis, 

 p. 128. 



Root with somewhat creeping underground stems. Stems very va- 

 rious in size, mostly tall, weak, and slender, angular, much branched^ 



