880 RUBIACEAE. [Asperula. 
4. ASPERULA Linn. } 75> 
Herbs with slender quadrangular stems. Leaves in whorls of 4 to 8, 
of which 2 are leaves and the remainder stipules, as in Galiwm. Flowers 
minute, solitary or in axillary or terminal cymes. Calyx-limb wanting. 
Corolla funnel-shaped, with a distinct limb and 4 spreading lobes. Stamens 
4; anthers exserted. Ovary 2-celled; styles 2, more or less connate at 
the base; stigmas capitate. Fruit didymous, small, dry, indehiscent. 
A genus comprising about 80 species, found in the temperate and subtropical regions 
of the Old World, but not extending to America or South Africa. It only differs from 
Galiwm in the funnel-shaped corolla. The single New Zealand species is endemic. 
1. A. perpusilla Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 114.—A small slender 
decumbent perennial. Stems weak, filiform, branched, 1-3 in. high, glabrous. 
Leaves in whorls of 4, 4-4, in. long, lanceolate, acuminate, awned, straight 
or curved, margins usually ciliate. Flowers minute, white, axillary or 
terminal, solitary, often unisexual; males usually pedicelled; females 
sessile, Calyx-tube glabrous. Corolla ;4,in. diam., campanulate, 4- or 
rarely 5-partite, tube very short. Styles united below, their tips free, 
divergent. Fruit of 2 globose minutely granulate cocci—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 
(1864) 121; Z. Kirk Students’ Fl. (1899) 248; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 
(1906) 267. A. aristifera Col. an Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi (1889) 88. 
Nortu AND SoutaH Istanps, Stewart Istanp: Not uncommon from the Lower 
Waikato southwards, ascending to 3000 ft. November—January. 
The corolla-tube is much shorter than is usual in Asperula, and the species would 
almost be better placed in Galiwm. 
A. fragrantissima J. B. Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv (1882) 359 is probably 
a form of Galium umbrosum. 
Family XCIX. CAPRIFOLIACEAE. 
Krect or climbing shrubs or small trees, rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, 
seldom alternate, simple or rarely pinnate, usually exstipulate. Flowers 
hermaphrodite, regular or irregular. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; 
limb 3-5-toothed or -lobed. Corolla gamopetalous, epigynous, rotate or 
funnel-shaped or tubular; limb often irregular or 2-lipped; lobes 4-5, 
imbricate, rarely valvate. Stamens 4-5, inserted on the tube of the corolla 
and alternating with its lobes, equal or unequal. Ovary inferior, 2-5-celled 
(rarely 1-celled), usually crowned with an epigynous disc; style long with 
a capitate stigma, or short and 2-5-lobed; ovules 1 or more in each cell, 
pendulous, anatropous. Fruit usually a berry or drupe, rarely a capsule, 
l- or many-seeded. Seeds with copious albumen; embryo usually minute, 
radicle superior. 
A small family, comprising 14 genera and about 200 species, mostly natives of the 
Northern Hemisphere, with few tropical or southern representatives. The family is of 
little economical importance, but many of the species are cultivated in gardens for the 
beauty or fragrance of their flowers, as the various kinds of honeysuckles and woodbines, 
&e. The single New Zealand genus is endemic. 
