STELLATE. 



395 



1. Woodruff Asperule. Asperula odorata, Linn. (Fig. 474.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 755. Sioeet Woodruff.) 



Rootstock slender and creeping. Stems 

 erect, 6 inches to near a foot high, 

 smooth on the angles. Leaves nsually 

 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 termi- 

 nal, 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, through- 

 out Europe and Russian Asia, except the 

 extreme north. Abundant in Britain. 

 Fl. spring and early summer. 



Fig. 474. 



2. Small Asperule. Asperula cyanchica, Linn. (Fig. 475.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 33. Squinancy-wort.) 



A smooth and glabrous perennial, the 

 stems sometimes erect and wiry, with 

 few leaves, 6 to 8 inches high, some- 

 times 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, tapering into a tube at the 

 base. Fruits small, slightly granulated. 



In dry pastures, on warm banks, and 

 waste, stony, and sandy places. Abun- 

 dant in central and southern Europe to 

 the Caucasus, extending northward more 



Fig. 475. 



