218 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Sub-Species it.— Galium elatum. Thuill. 



Tlate DCL. 

 BdA. Tc. FL Germ. etHelv. Vol. XVIT. Tab. MCLXXXVIII. Fig. 1. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 2477 1 



G. Mollago, Huds. D. 0. Prod. Vol. IV. p. 596. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 1H. 

 jffbafc & -4r». Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 196. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 365. 



Perennial. Stem decumbent, much branched with divaricate 

 branches. Leaves oblanceolate or obovate, rarely linear-oblan- 

 ceolate. Panicle broad, the lower branches divaricate in fruit. 



Var. a, genuinum. 



Leaves usually 8 in a whorl, oblanceolate. Branches of the 



panicle many-flowered. 



Var. 3, inmhricum. Gaud. 



Leaves usually 6 in a whorl, obovate. Branches of the panicle 



few-flowered. 



Var. 7, Bakeri. 



Leaves 6 to 8 in a whorl, strapshaped or linear-strapshap^d. 

 Branches of the panicle few-flowered. 



On banks by roadsides, aud in waste places. Common in chalky 

 districts, and generally distributed throughout England ; rare in 

 Scotland, from which country I have seen specimens only ironi 

 Dirleton, Haddingtonshire. Var. y near Thirsk. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Late Summer 

 and Autumn. 

 Very like G. erectum, with which the var. Bakeri connects it, 

 but generally a larger and more diffusely-branched plant, with the 

 leaves spreading, the lower branches of the panicle diverging from 

 the stem at a much greater angle, the flowers and fruit rather 

 smaller. The stem is frequently 3 or 4 feet long when supported 

 by bushes in its vicinity, thickened under the joints, and with the 

 leaves °-enerally glabrous; but forms occur in which botV *he 

 leaves and stem are pubescent. The Yorkshire Galium, which 1 have 

 named after Mr. J. G. Baker, is one of three or four of the inter- 

 mediate forms which connect G. erect urn with G. elatum, of which 

 G. aristatum (Sin.) is another. (See Baker, in Journal of Botany, 



1863, p. 290.) 



Common Great Bedstraw. 



French, Gaillet Blanc German, Gemdnes Lahkravt 

 This plant lias been recommended by French physicians as a cure for epilepsy. 

 Its roots yield a red Ciye similar to that from madder. 



