Cleavers. 117 



succeeded in climbing would set most seed and 

 produce most young, while the less successful would 

 languish in the shads and never become the proud 

 ancestors of future plantlets. Even the less highly- 

 developed species, such as the wall galium and the 

 swamp galium, have little asperities on the edge of 

 the stem ; but, as they need to climb far less than-the 

 hedgerow goose-grass, their roughnesses hardly deserve 

 to be described as prickles. Our own special subject, 

 on the other hand, being a confirmed creeper, finds 

 the prickles of immense use to it, and so has developed 

 them to a very marked extent. The corn galium, 

 too, which clings to the growing haulms or stubble of 

 wheat, has learnt to produce very similar stout hooks ; 

 while the wild madder, which I suspect is far more 

 closely related to goose-grass than many other plants 

 artificially placed in the same genus, has prickles of 

 like character, but much larger, by whose aid it trails 

 over bushes and hedges for immense distances. 



After the leaves and stem we have to consider the 

 nature of the flower. Look at one of the blossoms 

 on the piece I ^gave you, and you will easily under- 

 stand the main points of its structure. You notice 

 that it consists of a single united corolla, having four 

 lobes joined at the base instead of distinct and 

 separate petals, while the centre of course is occupied 



