MADDEE FAMILY. 175 



§ 2. Fruit dry when ripe, small. 



« Smooth : leaves with strong midrib but no side ribs or nerves : flowers white 

 loosely dustertd at the end of spreadiny branches. 



G. aspr^Uum, Rough Bedstraw. Low thickets : 3° - 5° high, as it 

 were climbing, the backwardly prickiy-roughened angles of the stem and edges 

 and midrib of the lance-oblong pointed leaves adhering to contiguous plants ; 

 leaves in whorls of 6 on the stem and of 4 or 5 on the branchlets : flowers 

 numerous. 



G. trmdum, Small B. Swamps and low grounds, 6' -2° high, roughish 

 or sometimes nearly smooth ; leaves varying from linear to oblong, 4 - 6 in the 

 whorls ; flowers rather few, their parts often 3. 



* * Fruit smooth or slighlly bristly: leaves S^ierved : floivers white, in a narrow 

 ,and long terminal panicle, y, 



G. borekle, Northern B. Rocky banks of streams N. ; l°-2° high, 

 smooth, erect, with lance-linear leaves in fours. 



» * « Fruit a little bar, being covered with hooked prickles. 



1- Leaves mostly 6 or 8 in a whorl, with midrib and no side nerves : flowers 'whitish 



or greenish : stems reclining or prostrate, bristly-rough baclcwards on the angles. 



G. Aparlue, Cleavers or Goose-Grass. Low grounds : leaves in 



eights, lanceolate, rough-edged, l'-2' long; peduncles axillary, 1 -2-flowered; 



fruit large. ® 



G. trifldrum, Sweet-scented Bedstraw. Woodlands, especially N. : 

 leaves mostly in sixes, lanee-oblong, bristle-pointed ; peduncles terminating the 

 branches, 3-ttowered. Sweet-scented in drying, y. 



■<-- ■<- Leaves all in fours, more or less 3 mrved : flowers not white : stems ascending, 

 about 1° high, rather simple, not prickly-roughened, y. 



G. pilbsum. Commonest S., in dry thickets : leaves oval, dotted, downy, 

 1' long ; powers brown-purple or cream-colored, all pedicelled, the peduncle 

 2-3-time3 forked. Var. pcncticdl6sum is a smooth form S. 



G. C^ciszans, Wild Liquorice, the root being sweetish : common in 

 thickets ; leaves oval or oblong, obtuse, ciliate ; peduncles once forked, their 

 long branches bearing short-pedicelled dull or brownish flowers along the sides, 

 Hie fruit reflexed. 



G. lanceol^tum, like the preceding,' common N. ; but with lanceolate or 

 lance-ovate tapering leaves, 2' long. 



3. DIODIA, BUTTON-WEED. (Name from Greek for a thoroughfare, 

 being humble weeds, often growing by the wayside.) Fl. all summer, white 

 or whitish. 



D. Virginica. Sandy banks from Maryland S. 7 with spreading stems 

 1° - 2° long, broadly lanceolate sessile leaves, :«alver-shaped corolla \' long, 

 2-parted stylo, and oblong fruit crowned with 2 calyx-teeth, y. 



H. teres. Sandy fields from N. Jersey and Illinois S. ; with slender stems 

 3' - 9' long, linear and rigid leaves, small corolla rather shorter than the long 

 bristles of the stipules, undivided style, and obovate little fruit crowned with 

 jthe 4 short calyx-teeth. ® 



4. MITCHELIiA, PARTRIDGE-BERRY. (Named for Z)r. J; MteAe//, 

 who corresponded from Virginia with Linnseus.) Fl. in early summer, y 

 M. rfepens, the only species, common in woods ; a little herb, creeping over 



the ground, with the small evergreen leaves round-ovate, very smooth and 

 glossy, bright green, sometimes with whitish lines, short-petioled ; the flowers 

 pretty and sweet-scented ; the scarlet fruit remaining over winter, eatable, but 

 dry and almost tasteless. 



5. CEPHALANTHTTS, BUTTON-BITSH. (Name from Greek; words 

 for head tmAflovxr.) Fl. summer and autumn. 



C. occidentals, the only species, is a tall shrub, common along the bor- 



