RUBIACE^. (madder FAMILY.) 209 



*- Flowers very abundant, the small clusters or cymes panicled on. the branches. 



2. G. MoLttJGO, L. Stems (l°-3° long) very smooth; leaves mostly in 

 whorls of 8, oblauceolate or oblong-linear, barely rough on the margins, slen- 

 der-pointed ; flowers forming a long panicle. — Washington Heights, near New 

 York, W. W. Denslow. (Adv. from Eu. ) 



3. G. aspr^Unni, Michx. (Rough Bedstbaw.) Stem weak, much 

 branched, rough backwards with hooked prickles, leaning on bushes (3° r- 5-° high) ; 

 leaves in whorls o/&,or i-5 on the branchlets, oval-lanceolate, pointed, with almost 

 prickly margins and midrib ; peduncles short, 2-3 times forked. — Low thick- 

 ets : common northward. 



4. G. conclnuum, Torr. & Gr. Stems low and slender (6'- 12' high), 

 with minutely roughened angles ; leaves all in whorls of 6, linear, slightly pointed, 

 veinless, the margins upwardly roughened ; peduncles slender, 2-3 times forked, 

 diffusely panicled at the summit ; pedicels short. — Dry ground, Pennsylvania 

 from the Susquehanna, to Virginia, Michigan, HUnois, and Kentucky. — Leaves 

 not blackening in drying. 



■I- ■(- Flowers few, lateral or terminating the branches, not panicled. 



5. G. trifldum, L. (Small Bedstkaw.) Stems weak, ascending (5'- 

 20' high), branching, mostly roughened backwards on the angles; leaves in 

 whorls of i to 6, linear or oblauceolate, obtuse, the margins and midrib rough ; 

 corolla-lobes and stamens often only 3. — Var. 1. pusiLLCM ; stems rather 

 simple, 5' -8' high, nearly smooth; leaves only 3" -4" long, all in fours, soon 

 reflcxed; peduncles 1-3-flowered. (In deep sphagnous swamps, northward.) 

 Var. 2. TiNOTOKiuM : stem taller and stouter, and with nearly smooth angles ; 

 peduncles 3 - "-flowered, the corolla-lobes and stamens 4. Var. 3. LATiF6LinM 

 ( G. obtusum, Bigel. ) : stem smooth and widely branched ; leaves oblong or ellip- 

 tical, quite rough on the midrib and margins. — Swamps : common, and very 

 variable. (Eu.) 



« * « Perennial, procumbent : leaves 6 or rarely 5 in a whorl, with prominent midrib 

 and no lateral nerves : flowers greenish : fruit bur-like, beset with hooked bristles. 



6. G. trifldrum, Michx. (Sweet-scented Bedstraw.) Stem (1°- 

 3° long) bristly-roughened backwards on the angles ; leaves elliptical-lanceolate, 

 .bristle-pointed, with slightly roughened margins (1' -2' long) ; peduncles 3-flow- 

 ered, the flowers aU pedicelled. — Kich woodlands : common. — Sweet-scented 

 in drying. (Eu.) 



* « » * Perennial, ascending or upright ; leaves all in fours, more or leis 3-nerved: 

 peduncles loosely or remotely 3 - several-flowered: corolla dull-purph, brownish, or 

 rarely cream-color; the lobes pointed or brislk-tipped : fhjat, except in No. 10, 

 bur-like, beset with hooked bristles. 



7. G. pildsum. Stem hairy ; leaves oval, dotted, hairy (1' long), scarcely 3- 

 nerved ; peduncles twice or thrice 2 - 3-forked, the flowers all pedicelled. — Dry copses, 

 Rhode Island and Vermont to Illinois and southward. — Var. pn»'CTionL6scM 

 is a nearly smooth form (G. puncticulosum, Michx.) : Virginia and southward. 



8. G. ciresezans, Michx, (Wild Liquorice.) Smooth or downy (1° 

 high) ; leai-es oval, varying to ovate-oblong, nrnstly obtuse, 3-nerved, ciliate (I'-l^' 

 long) ; peduncles usually once forked, the branches elongated and widely diverging in 



14 



