MADDER FAMILT. 175 



. § 2. Fruit dry when ripe, small. 

 • Smooth ! leax'es with strong midrib but no side ribs or nerves : floweti white, 



loosely clustered at the end of spreading branches. 

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

 were climbing, tlie badcwardly priclily-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 stighth hristli/ : leaves 3-nerved : flowers white, in a narrow 

 and long terminal panicle, y. 



G. boreUe, Nobthern B. , Eocky- banks of streams N. ; l°-2° high, 

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



* » » Frvit a little bur, being covered with hooked prickles. 



*~ Leaves mostly 6 or' 8 in a whorl, with midrib and no side nerves ; flowers whitish 

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



G. Aparlne, Cleavers or Goose-Grass. Xow grounds : leaves in 

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

 fruit large. ® 



G. trifl6ruiu. Sweet-scented Bedstraw. Woodlands, especially N. : 

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

 branches, 3-ilowered. Sweet-scented in drying. 2/ 



■f- -I- Leaves all in flmrs, more or less 3-nerved : flowers not white : stems ascending, 

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



G. pildsum. 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. ' Yar. pdncticul6sum is a smooth form S. 



G. ciresezans. Wild Liquorice, the root being sweetish : common in 

 thickets; leaves oval, or oblong, obtuse, cili^te; peduncles once forked, their 

 long branches bearing short-pedicelled dull or brownish, flowers along tlie 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 Ihorouglfare, 

 being humble wee'ds, often gi'owing by the wayside.) Fl. all summer, white 

 or whitish. 



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

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

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



I), t^res. 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 bf^the stipules, undivided style, and obovate little fruit crowned with 

 the 4 short calyx-teeth, (i) 



4. MITCHi^LLA, PAKTKrDGE-BEERT. {ISamecUor Dr. J.Mitchell, 

 who corresponded from Virginia with Linnaeus.) ]?1. in early summer. '21 

 M. r6pens,(iie 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 sweetrscented ; . the scarlet fruit remaining over winter, eatable, but 

 dry and almost tasteless. ' 



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

 for Aead.emdflowsr.) FI. summer and autumn. 



C. oceidentilis, the only spedes, is a tall shrub, common alongf (toe bor- 



