ioo M adder ( Rtibiacece ) . [No. 12 



Leaves, one to two inches in length, very narrow, about 

 eight in a whorl (sometimes only six), lance-shape or 

 reverse lance-shape, rough on the mid-veins and the 

 edges. 



Fruit, covered with very fine hooked prickles, which 

 when ripe cling at a touch, so aiding in the distribu- 

 tion of the seed. 



Found, in shaded ground from Indiana through the 

 Northern States to Canada. 



A weak vine several feet in length ; its stems reclining, 

 hairy at the joints, square, and rough with downward- 

 pointing bristle-prickles, by help of which the vine climbs. 

 The root yields a red dye, and the leaves are used 

 medicinally. 



" As girls we used to rub from the fruit the prickles, and 

 then play the white seeds within were pearls. The lustre 

 was indeed very pearl-like, but it would not last." 



Fig. 50. — Rough Bedstraw. Rough Cleavers. G. asprMum, Mx. 



Flowers, white, numerous. Cluster-stems, two or three 

 times forked. 



Leaves, five twelfths to two thirds inch in length, four to 

 six in a whorl (usually six on the main stems, and 

 four or five on the branches), one-veined, the mar- 

 gins and the mid-vein roughened with prickles, lance- 

 shape to oval, sharp-pointed. 



Fruit, minute, smooth, or often when young slightly 

 hairy. 



