MADDKR FAMILY. I7i> 



§ 2. Fruit dry when ripe, small. 



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

 loosely clustered at the end of spreading branches, 



G. aspr611um. Rough Bedstraw. Low thickets : 3° - 5° high, as it 

 were chmbing, the backwardly prickly-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. trifldum. 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 slighllp liristb/ : leaves 3-nerved : flowers white, in a narrow 

 and long terminal panicle, y, 



G. boreile, Northekn B. Rocky banks of streams N. ; l°-2° high, 

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



# « * Fruit a little bur, being covered with hooked prickles. 

 ■1- Leaves mostly dor 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. Aparine, Cleateks or Goose-Gbass. Low grounds : leaves in 

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

 fruit large. © 



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

 leaves mostly In sixes, lance-oblong, bristle-pointed ; peduncles terminating the 

 branches, S-flowered. Sweet-scented in drying. 2/ 



■*- H- Leaves all in fours, more or less 3 nerved : flowers not white : stems ascending, 

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



G. pil6sum. Commonest S., in dry thickets : leaves oval, dotted, downy, 

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

 2 -3-times forked. Var. pnNCTicoL6scM is a smooth form S. 



G. circSBZans, 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, 

 the 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.) El. all summer, white 

 or whitish. 



D. Virginiea. Sandy banks from Maryland S. ; with spreading stems 

 1° - 2° long, broadly lanceolate sessile leaves, salver-shaped corolla ^' long, 

 2-parted style, and oblong fruit crowned with 2 calyx- teeth. ^ 



D. t6res. 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 

 the 4 short calyx-teeth. ® 



4. MITCHELLA, PARTRIDGE-BERRY. (Named for JV. /. JI/tMc//, 

 who coiTesponded from Virginia with Linnseus.) El. in early summer, y. 

 M. ripens, 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, shor^petio^ed ; the flowers 

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

 dry and almost tasteless. 



5. CEPHALANTHUS, BUTTON-BUSH. (Name from Greek words 

 tor head andjlower.) El. summer and autumn. 



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



