114 
PLANTS OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 
1. Plant woolly. Leaves linear. Indianwheat ( Plantago pur shit ). 
1. Plant not woolly. Leaves not linear. 2. 
2. Leaves broad, strongly ribbed, mostly oval. Rippleseed plantain ( Plantago 
major ). 
2. Leaves narrow, not strongly ribbed, mostly lance-shaped. Plantago tweedyi - 
MADDER FAMILY (KUBIACEAE) 
In the Tropics there are many shrubs that belong to the madder 
family, some of them with peculiar nodules on their leaves that are 
inhabited by nitrogen-fixing bacteria closely related to those found 
in the roots of members of the pea family. Our representatives of the 
family, however, are rather small, 
weak herbs with square stems and 
whorled leaves. The coffee plant 
is the most important economic 
member of the family. 
Northern bedstraw ( Galium bore- 
ale) is very common in the park. 
It grows 1 or 2 feet high and the 
narrow leaves are three-nerved and 
are arranged in whorls of 4. The 
numerous white flowers are very 
small and are constructed on a 
numerical plan of four. 
Fragrant bedstraw ( Galium triflo- 
rum) is much less common. Its 
leaves are one-nerved and an inch 
or more in length, and they are 
arranged in whorls of six. 
Galium trifidum has much 
shorter leaves which are borne in 
sixes, fives, or occasionally in fours. 
Twinleaf bedstraw ( Galium bifo¬ 
lium) has only 2 or 4 leaves in a 
whorl, and when there are 4, 2 of them are much smaller. The flow¬ 
ers are borne singly either in the axils or terminal. 
Galium vaillantii has 6 to 8 leaves to a whorl, and the flowers are 
produced in axillary clusters of 3 to 9 each. 
Galium brandegei is slender and densely leafy with the leaves in 
fours, and the flowers are lateral. 
HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY (C APRIFOLI ACE AE) 
A rather large family which consists mostly of shrubs but con¬ 
tains some herbs. In all cases the leaves are opposite, the flower parts 
are attached above the ovary, and the petals are grown together to 
1 /* 
M- ■* 
Figure 91.—Northern bedstraw. White, 
Copyright, J. E. Haynes. 
