Styles 2, united at the base : stigmas globose. Fruit didymous, dry or
sometinqes fleshy, separable when ripe into 2' indehiscent 1-seeded carpels.
Albumen horny.—-Herbaceous or very rarely suffrutescent plants, with tetragonal
stems ; the root frequently containing a red coloring matter. Flowers
(rarely polygamous) small, axillary or terminal, cymulose, or rarely solitary
; the cymules often paniculate,—Cleavers, Bed-straw.
§ 1, Root annual.—Aparine, DC,
1. G. Aparine (Linn.) : stem weak, branching, retrorsely aculeolate-hls-
pid, hairy about the nodes; leaves mostly 3 in a whorl, oblapceolate-linear,
apiculate ; the margin and keel aculeolate ; peduncles elongated, axillary,
1-2-flowered; fruit large, very hispid with hooked bristles.—Linn. spec. l.p .
108; Engl. hot. t. 816 ; Pursh,fl. 1. p. 103; Bigel. Jl. Bost. ed. 2. p. 57;
Torr.f ft. l.p . 166; DC.! prodr. 4. p. 608; Hook.fl, Bor.-Am.~l. p. 290;
Darlingt.! ft. Cest. p. 100.
Shady thickets and margin of woods, Canada and Northern States! Also
in Oregon, Douglas, Dr. Scouler. May-June.—Stem 4—8 feet long,
eaves in remote whorls, 1-2 inches in length, and 2-3 lines wide, tapering
to the base. Flowers white, very small. Fruit larger than in most other
species of the genus.—This plant has perhaps been introduced from
Europe into the United States. Hooker describes a very small variety from
Oregon.
2. G, Califrrrnicum (Hqok, & Am.): small, very hairy throughout; stems
slender, diffuse, branched from the base; leaves 4 in a whorl, ovate, acute
ormucronate; peduncles nearly terminal, 1-3-flowered, much longer than
the leaves; lobes of the corolla ovate, very acute; ovary glabrous.—Hook,
4* Am , ! bot. Beechey, suppl. p . 349.
/3. crebrifolium (Nutt.! mss.): leaves reflexed; ovary hairy.
y. Texanum : very hirsute throughout.
California, Menzies, Douglas ! Nuttall! (a, /?.) y. Texas, Drummond !
—Plant about a span high. Leaves at length much shorter than the internodes,
about 4 lines long, 1-nerved, appearing reticulate-veined by transmitted
light. “ Flowers polygamous, greenish or yellowish-green” (Nutt.):
the corolla large for the size of the plant. Peduncles and pedicels capillary,
the latter usually longer than the flowers.—The var. fl. may be only the fertile
plant: the fruit is unknown. The Californian plant is probably annual,
which is certainly the case with that from Texas: our specimens of the
latter are immature, not even in flower; but they doubtless belong to this
species.
3. G. virgatum (Nutt.! mss.): stems erect, simple or branched from the
base, hispid or almost glabrous; leaves 4 in a whorl, oblong-lanceolate, his-
pidly ciliate, rather obtuse, much shorter than the internodes ; peduncles axillary,
very short, bibracteolate, 1-floweret}; fruit deflexed, hispid with uncinate
bristles,
fl, leiocarpum : fruit glabrous; stem almost glabrous.—G. nutans, Nutt.!
mss.
Dry prairies of Arkansas, Western Louisiana, and Texas, Nuttall ! Dr.
Leavenworth ! Dr. Pitcher ! Dr. Engelmann! Dr. Hale ! Drummond !—
Stem 6-10 inches high, simple, or throwing up undivided ascending branches
from near the base. Leaves about one-third of an inch long, thickish, rather
obtuse ; the midrib usually beset, like the margins, with scattered rigid hairs.
Peduncles 1 to 2, or rarely 3 from each whorl, extremely short, furnished
with 2 or rarely 3 bracteolate or involucral leaves, which become nearly as
large as those of the whorl, and give the latter the appearance of being 6-8-
leaved, or fasciculate. Flowers minute, white, nearly sessile within the
bracts: corolla white ; the lobes ovate, rather obtuse. Fruit rather large.—
This plant has a different habit from any other species of the United States ;
but it resembles some species of the following section.
§ 2. Root perennial: fruit fleshy or baccate : peduncles axillary, bearing
usually 4 involucrate bracts, one-(rarely 2-3-) flowered.—Relbuium, Endl.
(Species of Rubia, DC. &fc.)
4. G. hispidulum, (Michx.): stem much branched, diffuse, minutely hairy
or hispid, the angles somewhat glabrous ; leaves 4 in a whorl, ovate-oblong
or oval, mucronulate, minutely hispid, especially on the midrib and margins;
peduncles 1-3-flowered ; the pedicels (at first very short) elongated in fruit;
ovary scabrous-pubescent; fruit baccate.—G. hispidulum & Rubia Brownei
(excl. syn. Browne), Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 80 Sf 81. G. hispidulum, Ell. sk. 1.
p . 195. G. hispidum, Pursh, fl. l .p . 104. Rubia peregrina, Walt. Car.p.
86. R. Waheri, DC. ! prodr. 4. p. 590.
Dry sandy soil, S. Carolina ! Georgia ! and Florida, particularly near the
ocean. May-Oct.—“ Root somewhat jointed, saffron-colored.” Ell. Stems
about a foot long. Leaves 5-8 lines long, rather rigid, shining above, appearing
somewhat veiny by transmitted light, both surfaces sprinkled with
short rigid hairs. Peduncles axillary and terminal: pedicels longer than
the fruit. Corolla (white, Ell.), with the lobes acuminate. Fruit large,
smooth, dark-blue or purple.—The G. hispidulum of Michaux is clearly the
same plant as his Rubia Brownei, described from specimens with unripe
fruit. The genus Rubia will doubtless be restricted to the pentamerous species,
as proposed by A. Richard.
5. G. uniflorum (Michx.) : glabrous ; stems branched at the base, assur-
gent, slender; leaves usually 4 in a whorl, linear, rather acute, with sea-
brous mostly revolute margins; peduncles, solitary or opposite, axillary,
shorter than the leaves, 1-3-flowered ; fruit pedicellate, nodding, glabrous,
fleshy— Michx,! fl. \.p , 79; Ell., sk. 1. p. 95; DC..prodr. 4. p . 611;
Hook.! compan. to bot. mag, l.p . 48.
Shady rich soil, S. Carolina 1 to Florida 1 and Louisiana ! April-July—
Root slender, reddish. Stems 6—12 inches long. Leaves about an inch
long and a line wide, shining above, obscurely punctate, 1-nerved. Lobes
of the (white) corolla acuminate. Peduncle conspicuously involucrate at
the summit, usually bearing a single flower, the pedicel of which is elongated
in fruit; sometimes 3-flowered, the lateral pedicels 1-2-bracteolate, rarely
forked. Fruit large, fleshy, if not baccate when mature, purple ?
§ 3. Root perennial: fruit d ry : peduncles Z-many-flowered.—Eugalium, DC.
* Flowers white or sometimes greenish: peduncles axillary or terminal, few-flowered,
occasionally somewhat clustered at the extremity of the branchlets.
t Suffrutescent: Californian.
6. G. suffruticosum (Nutt.! mss.): “ prostrate or climbing, often suffruticose
towards the base of the stem, which is acutely quadrangular and minutely
aculeolate; leaves 4 in a whorl, very short, ovate-oblong, acute, scabrous on
the margin ; flowers (polygamous ?) pedunculate, dichotomal, and in terminal
loose fascicles of few flowers ; fruit glabrous.
“ St. Diego, California—2f. Nearly allied to G. trichocarpum, notwithstanding
the great difference in the fruit.” Nuttall.