VALERIAN FAMILY. Valerianaceae. 
5 
grows in mountain woods, as far east as Wyoming. 7 
There are many kinds of Galium, widely distributed; ' 
sometimes shrubs; stems square; leaves in whorls, without 
stipules; flowers small, usually perfect, in clusters; calyx 
usually with no border; corolla wheel-shaped, four-lobed; 
with round-top stigmas; fruit dry or fleshy, consisting of 
two similar, rounded parts, each with one seed. The 
common name, Bed-straw, comes from a tradition that the 
manger of the Infant Christ was filled with these plants. 
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stamens four, short; ovary two-lobed; styles two, short, | 
Other names are Goose-grass and Cleavers. 
Northern Bed- 
A rather attractive, smooth, perennial, 
7 
Shea with a stout, leafy stem, sometimes : 
Galium boreale | branching, and the leaves in fours, with ’ 
White three veins, the margins sometimes rough : 
Summer 
Northwest, etc. 
The fruit is small, at first bristly, but smooth when ripe. 
This grows in northern mountains across the continent, 
also in Europe and Asia, up to ten thousand feet. 
Not a large family, widely distributed, most abundant 
and hairy. The small flowers are white 
and so numerous as to be quite pretty. 
VALERIAN FAMILY. Valerianaceae. 
in the northern hemisphere; herbs, with opposite leaves 
and no stipules; flowers usually perfect, rather small, in 
clusters; the calyx sometimes lacking, or small, but cften 
becoming conspicuous in fruit; corolla somewhat irregular, 
tube sometimes swollen or spurred at base, lobes united and 
spreading, usually five; stamens one to four, with slender 
filaments, on the corolla, alternate with its lobes; ovary 
inferior, with one to three cells, only one containing an 
ovule, the others empty; style slender; fruit dry, not 
splitting open, containing one seed. 
There are many kinds of Valerianella, much alike, 
teype th 
a 
distinguished principally by their fruits. 
This has a juicy stem, from a few inches 
eee to over a foot tall, springing from a clump 
Valerianélla : 
afin of smooth, very bright green leaves, and 
(Plectritis) bearing most of the flowers at the top, in 
Pink a small close cluster, with narrow purplish 
Spring, summer 
Northwest, Cal. 
bracts. They are tiny, with a slightly 
irregular corolla, light pink, with two tiny 
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