GALIUM PALUSTRE. MARSH GOOSE-GRASS, OR
WHITE WATER BED-STRAW.
GALIUM foliis quatemis (rarius senis) ovato-lanceolatis, inæqualibus, obtusis, scabriusculis ; caulibns
diffusis, læviusculis ; fructu glabro, corolla minore.
0A L IUM palustre. Linn. Sp. PI. p . 153. FI. Suec. p. 119. Huds. Angl. p. 67. Pollich Pal.
n. 149- FI. Dan. t. 423. Hoffm. Germ. p. 48. Roth Germ. vol. 1. p. 63. vol. 2. p. 178.
With. Bot. A rr. ed. 4. vol. 2. p. 184. Relh. Cant.p. 65. Sibth. O x .p . 58. Jacq. Vind.
p. 23. Lig h tf. Scot. n. 115. Zoega Is/. Georgii. FI. Baikal, p . 199. Engl. Bot. 1 .1857.
Lamarck Diet. vol. 2. p. 577. Lam. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. vol. 4. p. 254. Lam. FI. Gall. Syn.
p . 300. Deslongch. FI. Gall. vol. 1. p. 81. Pers. Syn. PI. vol. 1. p. 125. Wahl. Lapp,
p. 47. A it on Hort. Kew. ed. 1. vol. l .p . 142.
GALIUM caule radicato diffuso, foliis quatemis ovatis obtusis. Hall. Helv. n. 719.
GALIUM difïusis foliis quatemis verticillatis. Linn. Lapp. p. 52.
GALIUM palustre album. Bauh. Pin. p. 335.
GALIUM album. Ger. Em. p. 1126.
GALIUM palustre, foliis quatemis obovatis inæqualibus, caulibus diffusis. Willdenozo Sp. PI. vol. i.
p. 585. Alton H ort. Kew. ed. 2. vol. 1. p. 236.
GALIUM palustre, foliis quatemis obovatis inæqualibus obtusis, caulibus diffusis superne ramosis.
Smith FI. B rit. vol. l .p . 174.
CRUCIATA palustris alba. Toumef. Inst. Rei Herb. p. 115.
MOL LU G IN IS vulgatioris varietas minor. R aii Syn. p. 224.
Welsh. Gwendeen. Gwenwlyddy gors.
Class a n d Order. T E TRANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
[N atural Order. RUBIACEÆ, Juss. Decandolle. APARINES, Adans. STELLATÆ, Linn.~\
Gen . Char. Cor. monopetala, plana. Sem. duo, subrotunda.
■Radix perennis, subhorizontaliter repens, hie illic fibras
ramosas emittens.
Caulis pedalis, bipedalis, et ultra, debilis, ut semet sus-
tentare nequeat, flexuosus, geniculatus, diffusus,
quadrangulatus, plerumque glaber, rarius angu-
lis scabriusculis, ramosus; ramis axillaribus,
sparsis, sterilibus brevioribus, tenuioribus, sim-
plicibusque; fertilibus robustioribus, iterumque
divisis.
Folia quaterna, vel non raro quina aut etiam sena, ver-
ticillata, horizontalia, magnitudine inasqualia,
obovato-lanceolata, obtusa, uninervia, planius-
cula, vel marginibus solummodo param recurvis;
superiora omnino glabra, minora, reliqua mar-
gine superficieque scabriuscula. Color viridis,
siccitate nigresceris.
F lores, in ramis, prascipue superioribus, terminales,
cymoso-paniculali, laxe dispositi; pedunculis tri-
chotomis, divergentibus, basi mono- vel diphyllis,
foliis parvis.
Calyx fructui adhasrens.
Corolla alba, rotata, quadrifida, segmentis ovatis,
acutiusculis.
Stamina quatuor. Filamenta brevia. Anthene flavte.
Germen inferum. Stylus unicus, filiformis, bifidus.
S tigina' capi tatum. .
Fructus parvus, corolla multo minor, bilobus, lobis ro-
tundatis, lsevibus, calyce non coronatus. Semina
duo, raro ad maturitatem pervenientia.
Root perennial, creeping in a somewhat horizontal direction;
here and there producing branched fibres.
Stem a foot high or more, weak, so as to be unable to
support itself, flexuose, geniculate, spreading,
quadrangular, generally smooth, rarely with the
angles rough, branched ; the branches axillary,
scattered; the sterile ones the shortest, most
slender, and simple; the fertile ones thicker, and
again divided.
Leaves growing in fours, less frequently five or six together,
verticillate, horizontal, unequal in size,
obovate-lanceolate, obtuse, one^ierved, somewhat
plane, or having the margins alone a little
recurved, the upper ones altogether smooth and
small, the rest roughish on the surface and at the
Flowers terminal on the branches, and principally on
the terminal ones, cymoso-paniculate, lax ; the
footstalks dichotomous, spreading, at the base
one- or two-leaved, with the leaves small.
Calyx adhering to the fruit.
Corolla white, rotate, quadrifid, with the segments
ovate, somewhat acute.
Stamens four. Filaments short. Anthers yellow.
Germen below the Corolla. Style one, filiform, bifid.
Stigma capitate.
Fruit small, less than the Corolla, two-lobed, the lobes
roundish, smooth, not crowned with the Calyx.
Seeds two, rarely arriving at perfection.
Fig. 1. Leaf, showing its roughness. Fig. 2. Corolla, natural size. Fig. 3. Corolla, magnified, showing
Fig. 4. The Anthers, and Fig. 5. The bifid Style. Fig. 6. The two-seeded Fruit.
Galium palustre is one of the most common of the genus, in wet pastures, particularly by the sides of ditches,
where it grows among tall aquatics, on which it leans for support, and is consequently erect or prostrate, according
to circumstances : in the former case it runs to a considerable length: in the latter it is shorter: it flowers the
latter end of June, and throughout the whole of July and August. I t is among our most distinctly marked species,
being known from every other by its .smooth fruit, when taken in conjunction with its obtuse leaves, from four to
six in a whorl, audits nearly smooth quadrangular stem. Sir James Smith also remarks very justly in English Botany,
that it is peculiar to this species to have two opposite leaves smaller and two larger in the uppermost whorls.
M. Decandolle in the Flore Française enumerates two varieties of G. palustre, the first of which is distinguished
from the common appearance of the plant by its roughish stem ; the second, which is the Galium glomeratum of
Villars, by its flowers being collected in small heads, and by its leaves being less obtuse : these leaves are moreover
in whorls of four together upon the sterile branches, and six together on those which produce flowers.
The order Rubiaccee, though one of the most extensive in the natural arrangement, possesses but four genera,
Sherardia, Asperula, Galium and Rubia, that are found in our country ; afid these are essentially distinguished by
their calyx being adherent with the seed-vessel for nearly its whole length, in such a manner that its divisions
Scarcely rise above the fruit ; by their monopetalous, regular, four- or five-cleft corolla fixed upon the fruit, and
four or five stamens inserted within the tube of the corolla ; by their two stigmas, two-seeded almost naked fruit,
and by their seeds having a straight embrvo (corculuni) surrounded by a horny perisperm, a radicule inferior, and
foliaceous cotyledons*.
To the more essential characters of the fructification may be added others taken from various parts of the plant ;
they are herbs, for the most part having perennial roots and capable in many instances of affording dyeing matter ;
the stem is angular, often rough a t the borders, as well as the leaves, which are moreover verticillate at the joints ;
oval, oblong or linear, and always entire : the flowers are disposed in panicles, rarely solitary and axillary*. The
exotic plants of this order, M. Decandolle remarks, are shrubby, with opposite leaves furnished with intermediate
stipules, which seem to occupy the place of the verticillate leaves peculiar to the species of our climate : the fruit
too is a capsule or berry with two or more cells and as many seeds.
Decandolle.