Hefugium Bo tanicum.] 
[March, 1871. 
TAB. 249. 
Natural Order Eubiace^. 
Sub -order Stellate. 
Genus Asperula, L. 
Sect. Sheeardian^ {D.C. Prodr. iv. p. 581). Annuse, corollis tubuloso- 
infundibuliformibus. 
A. ORiENTALis [Boiss. et Holien. in Kotschy PL Kurd, exsic. cum descrip. 
June, 1843). Annua, caulibus glabris erectis dichotomiter ramosis, 
foliis linearibus 7 — 10 per verticillum, floribus dense capitatis sub- 
sessilibus, bracteis linearibus dense ciliatis corollis azureis subtriplo 
brevioribus, caljcis limbo abortive, corollse tubo elongato supra 
medium anguste infundibuliformi, segmentis ovatis patulis tubo 
5 — 6-plo brevioribus. — Boiss. Diag. ser. 1, iii. 30. A. azurea, 
Jauh. et Spach, III PL Or. t. 82 (Nov. 184.3) ; Walp. Bep. vi. 24. 
A native of Asia Minor and Kurdistan, on dry limestone hills. 
Annual. Stem suberect, copiously dicliotomously branched, 
a foot high when luxuriant, tetragonous, glabrous, slightly rough 
at the angles. Leaves sessile, linear, seven to ten in a whorl, six 
to nine lines long, the edge slightly revolute, dull green above, 
paler beneath, the margins scabrous. Flowers twelve to thirty, 
subsessile in dense heads, subtended by a whorl of hracts two to 
three lines long, which are densely ciliated with long white silky 
hairs, and often more or less tinged with the colour of the 
flowers. Calyx-limh quite obsolete. Corolla bright pale blue, 
half an inch long, with a slender tube narrowly funnel- shaped 
above the middle, and four ovate spreading lobes. Stamens 
sessile at the throat of the tube. Achenes round, hard, glabrous, 
a line thick. 
Scarcely more than a variety of A. arvensis. It will be seen 
from the synonyms that it was named by two authors during the 
same year, and that the name we have used has a slight priority. 
Tab. 249. — 1, a leaf; 2, flower with bracts; 3, flower split open; 
4, pistil : all magnified. — J. G. B. 
This pretty little annual was supplied to me by Mr. Stark, of 
Edinburgh, and grows freely in pots or in the open ground. The 
seeds should be sown in early spring to produce strong plants, 
which will continue in flower for a considerable time. — W. W. S. 
