392 RUBIACEAE. 



Alkaline fields of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys westward 

 through the South ('oust Ranges. A.pr.-May. 



RUBIACEAE. Madder Family. 

 Shrubs <>r herbs with opposite or whorled entire Leaves. Blowers perfeel or 

 polygamous, rarely unisexual. Calyx, corolla and stamens 4-merous (except 

 Sherardia). Calyx coherent wit 1 1 the ovary, its Limb Bometimes obsolete. 

 Stamens alternate with the lobes of the corolla and Inserted on its tube. 

 Ovary 2 to 5-celled; styles 1 or 2. Embryo in fleshy or horny albumen. — 

 A very large order including the Cinchona and Coffee Plant. 



Herbs or slightly suffrutescent plants. 



Corolla rotate; flowers in cymes or solitary, pediceled 1. Galium. 



Corolla funnelform; flowers in involucrate heads _'. Sherardia. 



Large shrub; corolla tubular- funnelf orm ; Bowers in dense globose long-peduncled heads.. 



3. Cephalanthus. 

 1. GALIUM L. Bedstraw. Cleavers. 



Serbs or sonic species slightly suffrutescent, with slender square stems. 

 Leaves exstipulate, in whorls. Blowers cymose, peduncled. Calyx-limb obso- 

 lete. Corolla rotate, 4-cleft. Stamens 4, short. Ovary 2-lobed, 2-celled, 

 2-ovuled; styles 2. Fruit didymous, of two globular halves, dry or fleshy, 

 separating when ripe into 2 seed-like Lndehiscent 1-seeded carpels. (Greek 

 gala, milk, certain species being used to curdle milk.) 



A. Annuals. 

 Mature fruit dry; leaves 6 to 8 in a whorl. 



Pedicels curved in fruit 1. G. tr iconic. 



Pedicels straight in fruit. 



Fruit granulate or tuberculate but glabrous 2. G. parisicnsc. 



Fruit densely uncinate-hispid 3. G. aparinc. 



B. Perennials. 

 Mature fruit dry. 



Leaves 6 in a whorl, cuspidate-acuminate 4. G. trifloruni. 



Leaves 4 or 5 in a whorl, obtuse at apex 5. G". tritidum. 



Mature fruit fleshy or berry-like; leaves in whorls of 4. 



Herbaceous; corolla yellowish 6. G. calif or nicum. 



Suffrutescent; corolla white 7. G. niittallii. 



I [erbaceous; corolla purple 8. G. bolandcn. 



Prostrate; corolla white 9. G. andrewsii. 



1. G. tricorne Stokes. Corn Galium. Stems stout, rather simple, 6 to 

 10 in. long, the angles callous, with stontish recurved prickles; leaves in whorls 

 of <i to 8, narrowly oblanceolate or linear, callous-margined and thickly besel 

 wit h recurved prickles, about (i lines long; fruit on stout recurved pedicels, 

 1 j _. lines long, papillate-rugose, 2 lines broad or more. 



Naturalized from Europe: Kenwood, Sonoma Co. Fruiting in June. 



2. G. parisiense L. Wall Galium. Much branched from the base, the 

 branches and particularly the branchlets very slender or almost filiform, 



10 to 16 in. high, very leafy below, less so above, finely scabrous; Leaves 

 in whorls of 6, oblong-spat ulate or linear oblong, acute, .'? to 5 lines long; 

 cymes BeveraJ flowered, paniculate, tin peduncles and pedicels filiform; flowers 

 whitish, very small, % to % line broad; fruit small, glabrous, granulate. — 

 (G. anglicum Huds.) 

 Vineyards at Sonoma, introduced from Europe, duly. 



3. G. aparine L. Goose Grass. Diffuse or climbing over herbaceous 

 plants and forming rather thick coarse mats, the stems l to 2 or ."» ft. long, 

 the whoir herbage Betulose or hispidulous-roughened ; Leaves in whorls of 7 

 or s , oblong-oblanceolate, obtuse, or the upper acute, mucronate, tapering to 



