164 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLANTS. 



rotate, 4 - 5-parted. Stamens short. S'^i/Zes 2, united at base. Fruit 

 didymous, subglobase, baccate, smooth. Herbaceous or suffruticose. 

 Stems 4-angled, diffusely branching. 



1. R. Tincto'eum, L. Stem herbaceous, flaccid, aculeate on the angles ; 

 leaves mostly in apparent verticils of six, lanceolate, sub-petiolate ; pe- 

 duncles axillary, trichotomous ; lobes of the corolla with a callous acu- 

 miuation, but not cuspidate. 

 Dyers' Rubia. Madder. Dyers' Madder. 

 Fr. La Garance. Germ. Die Faerber-Roethe. Span. Rubia. 



Root perennial, large, reddisli brown, ^ims procumbent, 3-4 feet long, much branched, 

 pubescent at the joints ; angles prominent, sometimes more than 4, aculeate with short 

 retrorselj"- curved prickles. Leaves and stipules similar, 1-2 inches long — the midrib and 

 margins retrorsely aculeate— Jlower-ieaHng irancJies axillary, opposite. Corolla brownish 

 yellow, often 5-lobed. 



Gardens and lots : cultivated. Native of the East. Fl. July, Fr. September. 



Fig. 114. The Madder Plant (Rubia tinctorum) reduced. 



