MADDER FAMILY. Rubiacex. 



MADDER FAMILY. Rubiocece. 



Shrubs or herbs with toothless leaves growing oppo- 

 sitely or in circles ; the regular flowers perfect, or stam- 

 inate with rudimentary pistils, or pistillate with 

 rudimentary stamens ; the corolla funnel-formed with 

 4 (sometimes 5) lobes and as many stamens. Cross- 

 fertilized mostly by bees and butterflies. A large family 

 in the tropics, to which belong the Coffee, the Cinchona 

 tree from which is obtained quinine, and the Madder 

 (Rubia tinctorum) whose roots furnish the red dye and 

 the artist's permanent pigment of that name. 



A familiar little wayside flower also 

 Bluets " ' r called Quaker Ladies and Innocence ; 

 Houstonia communistic in manner of growth and 

 ccerulea frequently covering large spaces with its 



h"* 1 Whlte bloom> Xt is a P erennial > and forms 

 dense tufts of oblong lance-shaped, tiny 

 light green root-leaves and slender, thread- 

 like stems sparingly set with minute opposite leaflets. 

 The little four-lobed corolla is about inch in diameter, 

 white, or white tinged on the lobes with lilac, or pale 

 violet (the nearest approach to blue) ; the centre is 

 stained with golden yellow. The flowers are pistillate 

 and staminate as above described. Cross-fertilized 

 mainly by the bees of the genera Halictus and Andrena, 

 and the smaller butterflies the Clouded Sulphur (Colias 

 philodice), the Meadow Fritillary (Brentliis bellona), and 

 the Painted Lady (Pyrameis Cardui). 3-6 inches high. 

 In moist grassy places or sandy waysides, from Me., 

 south to Ga. and Ala., west to Mich. Named for William 

 Houston an early English botanist. 



A taller southern species. The stem 

 Large smooth or slightly hairy, the light green 



Houstonia leaves pointed broad ovate (the upper ones 

 purpurea smaller and narrower), with 3-5 ribs, the 



Lilac or deep largest nearly 2 inches long. The deep 

 lilac or pale lilac, long-tubed flowers in 

 small clusters ; the thin lobes of the calyx 

 longer than the globular seed-pod. 6-16 inches high. 

 In thin or open woodlands, from Md., south (especially 



lilac 

 May-July 



