78S LXIV. EUBIACEiE. [Galium. 



2. G. australe (Australian), DC. Prod. iv. 608 ; Benth. Fl. Amtr. iii. 446. 

 Slender and diffuse but perhaps perennial, the stems often elongated and much 

 intricate, more or less rough or hispid, with short rigid clinging hairs. Leaves 

 in whorls of 4, from ovate to lanceolate, sessile or shortly contracted at the base. 

 Pedicels rather long, often 3 together, on a short axillary peduncle, with a whorl 

 of leaves at their base. Flowers of O. Gaiidichaudi. Fruit small, more or less 

 muricate or eohinate, with hooked bristles. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 171 ; G. 

 densum, Rook. i. in Hook. Lond. Journ. vi. 461; G. e-rythrorhizum, F. v. M.; 

 Miq. in Ned. Kruidk. Arch. iv. 113. 

 Hab.: Warwick and other southern inland localities. 



37. ASPERULA, Linn. 

 (Often rough harsh plants.) 

 Calyx completely comtined with the ovary, without any visible border. Corolla 

 funnel-shaped, with a distinct tube and 4 spreading lobes, valvate in the bud. 

 Anthers exserted. Style 2-lobed. Ovary 2-celled, with 1 ascending or laterally 

 attached ovule in each cell. Fruit small, dry, 2-l6bed (when perfect), indehiscent. 

 — Herbs with slender quadrangular stems. Leaves in whorls of 4 to 8, of which 

 2 are real leaves and the remainder stipules, although precisely similar in shape 

 and size, in one species reduced to the 2 real leaves. Flowers small, solitary, or 

 in axillary or terminal cymes or clusters, occasionally more or less unisexual, the 

 females with a much shorter corolla-tube than the males, but always more promi- 

 nent than in Galium. 



The genus extends over the cooler temperate and subtropical regions of the Old World, but is 

 unknown in America or southern Africa. The Australian species are all endemic. It differs 

 from Galium only in the shape of the corolla. — Benth. 



Leaves mostly in pairs 1. .i. gemiiiifolia. 



Leaves mostly in sixes, a few whorls sometimes of four only. 



Leaves narrow-linear, with fine points. Plant usually scabrous-hispid . 2. A. scoparia. 



Leaves linear, obtuse or acute, minutely pubescent 3. A. covferta. 



1. A., geminifolia (leaves in pairs), F. v. M. Frar/m. v. 147 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. iii. 443. Stems long, slender, weak and diffuse, quite glabrous. Leaves 

 2 or very rarely 3 to each whorl, narrow -linear, acute, above lin. long in luxuriant 

 specimens, but usually shorter. Peduncles terminal, elongated, solitary or 3 

 together, each with about 5 to 7 flowers, almost sessile, in a small cyme. Corolla 

 about f line long, the lob^s nearly as long as the tube. Fruit small, very rugose, 

 almost fleshy. 



Hab.: Burdekin and Brisbane Bivers and Bockhampton. 



2. A. scoparia (broom-like). Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journ. vi. 463, and 

 Fl. Tasm. i. 169 t. 40a ; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 444. Stems short and densely 

 tufted, erect or decumbent, or in the northern specimens Gin. long or more and 

 rather rigid, the whole plant more or less scabrous-pubescent. Leaves 6 in a 

 whorl, linear, acute, with a fine point, mostly 3 to 4 lines long. Flowers 8 or 5 

 together, nearly sessile within the last whorl of leaves, or about 3 together, on 

 short common peduncles, of which 3 to 5 are umbellate within the last whorl. 

 Corolla of the male flowers about 1 line long, with a slender tube, in the females 

 much shorter, the tube scarcely so long as the lobes. — Rubia syrticola, Miq. in 

 Ned. Kruidk. Arch. iv. Ill and also at 112 ; Asperula oligantha, F. v. M. Fragm. 

 ix. 187. 



Hab.: Darling Downs, on the Maranoa. 



3. A. conferta (crowded), Hook.f. in Hook. Lond. Jmorn. vi. 464, and Fl. 

 Tasm.i. 169; Benth. Fl. Austr. iii. 444. Diffuse, decumbent or nearly erect, 

 sometimes forming dense prostrate tufts of a few inches, sometimes 6ft. to 1ft. 

 long, rigid or slender, nearly glabrous or slightly scabrous-pubescent. Leaves in 



