222 ENGLISU B(£TANT. 



Stems thick, weak, 1 to 4 feet long. Leaves f to 1-|- inch long, 

 strapshaped-oblong, or oblong-elliptical, or oblanceolate-elliptical. 

 Branches of the panicle more or less spreading, not reflexed after 

 flowering. Flowers $■ inch across. Fruit-pedicels divaricate. Fruit 

 about the size of a rape-seed. 



Var. 3, genuinum. 



G. palustre, Presl. Jord. Frag. III. p. 170. Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. II. p. 39. 



Stems generally smooth, 6 inches to 3 feet long, more tufted 

 than in var. a. Leaves \ to f inch long, narrower than in var. a. 

 Branches of the panicle spreading, often divaricate or reflexed 

 after flowering. Fruit-pedicels divaricate. Corolla and fruit one- 

 third smaller, and produced earlier in the season than in var. a. 



Var. 7, Witherincjii. 



Plate DCLIV. 



G. Witheringii, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 2206. 



G. uliginosum, var. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 275. 



Similar to var. 0, except that the stem is conspicuously 

 rough with recurved bristles ; the leaves narrower, linear-strap- 

 shaped, recurved ; the panicle narrow, with the lateral branches 

 short and often ascending. 



In ditches and wet places. Very common, and generally 

 distributed. The var. a less abundant, and var. y rather rare. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer 

 and Autumn. 

 Boot creeping; stems procumbent or ascending, supporting 

 themselves by trailing over surrounding plants. Plant very vari- 

 able in size, sometimes not larger than Gr. saxatile or G. sylvestre, 

 sometimes as large as G. Mollugo. Leaves shining-green, much 

 less stiff than in the other white-flowered perennial species ; the 

 corolla less flat, turning blackish-purple in drying. 



Marsh Bedstraw. 



French, Gaillet des Marais. German, Sump/ Labkraut. 



SPECIES IX— GALIUM ULIGINOSUM. Linn. 



Plate DCLV. 



Reick Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MCXCIII. Fig. 2. 

 Billot, Fl. GalL et Germ. Exsicc. No. 2076. 



Perennial. Stems weak, branched throughout, with rather few 

 barren shoots, very rough at the angles with deflexed hooked 



