STELLATE. 



887 



1. Wild Madder. Rubia peregrina, Linn. (Fig. 463.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 851.) 



A straggling herb, of a shining green, 

 sometimes very dwarf, sometimes trail- 

 ing over bushes and hedges to the length 

 of several feet, clinging by means of 

 short recurved prickles on the edges and 

 midribs of the leaves, and sometimes on 

 the angles of the stem . Rootstock and 

 sometimes also the base of the stem peren- 

 nial and creeping. Leaves 4 or 6 in the 

 whorl, ovate-oblong or lanceolate, 1 to 1 \ 

 inches long, on very short stalks or nearly 

 sessile. Flowers small, greenish, in loose 

 axillary or terminal panicles rather 

 longer than the leaves. Corolla usually 

 3-lobed. Fruit a small black 2-lobed 

 berry. 



In dry woods, and stony places, in 

 western and southern Europe, and east- 

 ward to the Caucasus, less frequent in 

 northern France and G-ermany. In 

 Britain scarcely found beyond the south-western counties of England, 

 the coast of South Wales, and the east coast of Ireland. FL all summer. 



The dyers Madder (R. tinctoria), extensively cultivated in southern 

 Europe for the scarlet dye furnished by its roots, differs but very 

 slightly from the zvild M., and may be a mere variety. 



Fig. 463. 



II. GALIUM. GALIUM. 



Herbs, with weak, quadrangular stems, sessile leaves, in whorls of 

 4, 6, or 8, and small white, yellow, or (in exotic species) red flowers, in 

 axillary or terminal trichotomous cymes or panicles, sometimes re- 

 duced to small clusters. Calyx completely combined with the ovary, 

 without any visible border. Corolla rotate, the tube scarcely percep- 

 tible, with 4 spreading lobes. Fruit small, dry, 2-lobed, with 1 seed 

 in each lobe. 



An extensive and natural genus, spread over the whole of the tempe- 

 rate regions of the new as well as of the old world, especially abundant 

 in Europe and northern Asia, penetrating also into the tropics, but 

 there chiefly confined to mountain districts. 



