Asperula.] XL. STELLATE. 215 



phical range is not so extensive, being limited to Europe, northern 

 Africa, northern and central Asia, and Australia. 



Leaves lanceolate, about 8 in a whorl. Fruit hispid . . 1. A. odor at a. 



Leaves linear, opposite or 4 in a whorl. Fruit small, glabrous 2. A. cynanchica. 



1. A. odorata, Linn. (fig. 481). Woodruff. — Eootstock slender and 

 creeping. Stems erect, 6 inches to near a foot high, smooth on the 

 angles. Leaves usually 8 in a whorl (rarely 6, 7, or 9), the lowest small 

 and obovate, the remainder oblong-lanceolate, above an inch long, 

 slightly rough at the edges. Peduncles terminal, bearing a few small, 

 white flowers, in a loose, trichotomous cyme. Corollas very fugacious. 

 Fruits globular and very hispid. The whole plant has a sweet hay 

 smell in drying. 



In woods and shady places, throughout Europe and Eussian Asia, 

 except the extreme north. Abundant in Britain. Fl. spring and early 

 summer. 



2. A. cynanchica, Linn. (fig. 482). Squinancywort. — A smooth and 

 glabrous perennial, the stems sometimes erect and wiry, with few 

 leaves, 6 or 8 inches high, sometimes decumbent or spreading on the 

 ground, in broad, leafy tufts or patches. Leaves narrow-linear, the 

 lower ones 4 in a whorl, the upper ones often 2 only, the 2 others 

 wanting or reduced to small stipules. Flowers white, often with a 

 lilac tinge, forming little clusters at the summits of the branches ; the 

 corollas little more than a line long, funnel-shaped, tubular at the 

 base. Fruits small, slightly granulated. 



In dry pastures, on warm banks, and stony and sandy places. 

 Abundant in central and southern Europe to the Caucasus, extending 

 northward more sparingly to the Baltic. Common in parts of England 

 and south and west Ireland, but does not extend into Scotland. Fl. 

 summer. 



IV. SHERARDIA. SHERARDIA, 



A single species, with the corolla and fruit of an Asperula, and the 

 habit of some southern species of that genus, but distinguished both 

 from Asperula and Galium by the calyx, which has a distinct border of 

 4 or 6 teeth crowning the fruit. 



1. S. arvensis, Linn. (fig. 483). Field Madder. — A small annual, 

 seldom above 6 inches high. Leaves about 6 in a whorl, the lower 

 ones small and obovate, the upper linear or lanceolate, all rough on 

 the edges and ending in a fine point. Flowers small, blue or pink, in 

 little terminal heads, surrounded by a broad, leafy involucre, deeply 

 divided into about 8 lobes, longer than the flowers themselves. Corolla 

 with a slender tube, little more than a line long, and 4 small, spreading 

 lobes. Calyx-teeth enlarged after flowering, forming a leafy crown to 

 the fruit. 



In cultivated and waste places, in temperate Europe and Asia, 

 extending far to the north as a weed of cultivation. Common in the 

 greater part of Britain, but scarce in the north of Scotland. FL the 

 whole summer. 



