386 
44. RUBIACEiE. 
N. coast near the Fonte d’Area and rocky summit of P. do 
Facho. Apr.- July. — A small slir. 1-3 or 4 ft. high either en- 
tirely smooth or more or less pubescent with shining rather 
light or bright gr. foliage and copious terminal panicles of in- 
conspicuous small gr. ft. scentless like the whole pi. Branches 
diffuse ascendentlv erect and mostly elongate. L. not deci- 
duous yet not stiff or coriaceous stalked oblong-lanceolate or 
lanceolate 2-3 in. long, |-1 in. broad entire, opposite in pairs 
or 3-4-nate in whorls. Petioles dilated and amplexicaul or 
combined at the base by the half-ovate short or linear-ligulate 
or lanceolate entire very variable stip. Panicles oblong leafy 
many-flowered 6-12 in. long. FI. in short stalked opposite 
leafy compound repeatedly forked small crowded and often 
close congested axillary panicles scarcely longer than the leaves, 
1 line in diam., partly perfect, partly male or female on the 
same or different pi. Cal. -limb quite obsolete. Cor. obovate 
in bud, lobes in fl. reflexed caducous. Anthers large oblong 
exserted. Fr. drooping pale brown small obturbinate or pear- 
shaped slightly notched or 2-toothed at top, l|-2 lines long. 
Pedicels and branches of panicle often slender capillary ; the 
former erect in fl., in fr. slightly drooping. 
It is impossible to draw any line between the smooth and 
hairy or pubescent states of this very variable pi. The former 
is by far the commonest, but passes insensibly into the latter. 
The few-fld. state (3 paucijlora DC. (P. pauciflora A. Rich.) is 
even still less separable. 
Nobla is a corruption from the Spanish Simple noble (i. e. 
Herba nobilis , the noble herb or pi.) by which name Plukenet 
reports it to be called, though in Tenerife, Palma, Gomera 
and Hierro where I met with it, I heard of no such name. Webb 
gives Capitana as its name in Palma : in Gomera at Hermigua 
it is called CanotiUa. I heard nothing of its virtues, and in 
Madeira it is accounted worthless except partially, or in want 
of anything better, for fodder. 
Tribe III. Galiea. 
The Madder Tribe. 
3. SnERARDIA L. 
1. S. ARVKNSIS L. 
The only sp. — Linn. Sp. PI. 149; Desf. i. 120; Brot. i. 152 
(Scherardia) ; EB. t. 891; Sm. E. Fl. i. 190; Buch 195. no. 281 ; 
