RUBIACEiE. 217 



Suu-Species I.— Galium erectum. Hilda. 



Plates DCXLIX DCXLIX (Ms). 



JBweA. Io. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MCLXXXVIII. Fig. 2. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 570. 



" G. lucidum, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 36G," Gr. &, Godr. 



Stem sub-erect, with erect branches. Leaves strapshaped nv 

 oblanceolatc-strapshaped. Panicle slender, with all the branches- 

 ascending in fruit. 



Var. a, genninum. 

 Plate DCXLIX 

 Stem rather stiff. Leaves generally 8 in a whorl. 



Var. ? 3, aristatum. Bab. 



Plate DCXLIX. (bis). 



G. iristatum, Sm. Eng. Fl. Vol. I. p. 203. Sow. Eng. Bot. Suppl. No. 2784 (non Lirm.). 



Stem diffuse, weak (?). Leaves mostly 6 in a whorl, similar vo 

 those of var. a, but with a longer mucro. 



O.i banks and by roadsides. Eather rare. It occurs in Hants, 

 Sussey., Kent, Surrey, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Yorkshire : 

 near Edinburgh, Eorfar, and near Bonnar Bridge, Boss-shire. 

 Var. 0. Eorfarshire, found by Mr. G. Don. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer and 

 late Autumn. 



Stem 1 to 2 feet high, generally glabrous, at least in the upper 

 part. Leaves | to f inch long, ascending. Panicle slender, pyramidal. 

 Elowers | inch across. Eruit-pedicels divaricate. Eruit olive-black, 

 about the size of the grains in a fig. Plant light-green, retaining 

 its colour in drying. 



I am acquainted with var. only from the very imperfect 

 specimens in Smith's Herbarium. These have the large fruit and 

 narrow leaves of G. erectum, but the stems seem weaker, and the 

 habit is rather that of narrow-leaved forms of G. elatum. It is 

 evidently one of the intermediate forms which connect the two 

 sub-species; but Professor Babington is probably correct in re- 

 ferring it to G. erectum. 



Narrow-leaved Great Bechtraw. 



French, Gaillet Dresse. 

 VOL. IV. 2 F 



