GALIUM ULIGINOSUM. BOG GOOSE-GRASS, OR
ROUGH MARSH BED-STRAW.
GALIUM uliginosum foliis senis, lanceolatis, acuminulatis, lævibus, marginibus retrorsum aculeatis ;
caulibus erectiusculis, subscabris ; fructu glabro, corolla minore.
GALIUM uliginosum, foliis senis lanceolatis retrorsum serrato-aculeatis mucronatis rigidis, corollis
fructu majoribus. Smith Fl. B r it. vol. l .p . 175.
GALIUM uliginosum. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 153. FI. Suec. n. 127. Pollich Pal. n. 150. Hoffm.
Germ. p. 49* Roth Germ. vol. 1. p. 64. vol. 2. p. 179. Huds. Angl. p. 68. Sibth. Ox.
p. 58. Relh. Cant.p. 65. With. Bot. A r r . ed. 4. vol. 2. p. 186. Light'f. Scot.p. 115.
Engl. B o t.t. 1972. Georgii FI. Baikal, p. 199. Willd. Sp. PI. vol. 2. p. 595. Lamarck
Fl. Fr. ed. 3. vol. 4. p. 259- Lam. FI. Gall. Syn. p. 300. Deslongch. FI. Gall. p. 81.
Pers. Syn. PI. vol. 1. p. 126. Wahl. Fl. Lapp. p. 47. Alton Hort. Kezo. ed. 1. vol. 1.
p. 142. ed. 2. vol. l.p . 239- Jacq. Vind.p. 24.
GALIUM supinum ß . Lamarck Diet. vol. 2. p. 579..
GALIUM caule subaspero, foliis quatemis et senis spinula terminatis. Hall. Goet. p. 189.
GALIUM album minus. Petiv. Herb. p. 30. ƒ 6. Vaill. Par. p. 78. et p. 14. (fide Lam.) C. Bau//,
p. 335. .
GALIUM foliis margine ciliato-scabris. Tournef. In s t. Rei H erb. p. 114.
GALIUM aquaticum, flore albo. Barrel. Ic . p. 82.
A PA R IN E foliis lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis rigidis, corollis fructu majoribus. Roy. Lugd. B a t.p . 255.
A PA R IN E palustris minor Parisiensis, flore albo. Dill, in R ail Syn.p. 225.
A L S IN E minor palustris Parisiensis, flore albo. Linn. FL Lapp.p. 58.
MOLLUGO mon tana minor gallio albo similis. Raii Hist. p. 482.
RUBIA quædam minor. J . Bauh. Hist. vol. 3. p. 716.
Dan. Klammerurt. Japan. Fanni ira. Muggi. Muggura guloxo. Norw. Smaamour. Smaasnert.
Welsh. Gwendon arw y migyn.
Class and Order. T E TRANDRIA MONOGYNIA.
[N atural Order. RUBIACEÆ, Juss. Decandolle. APARINES, Adans. STELLATÆ, Linn.]
Gen . Char. Cor. monopetala, plana. Semina duo, subrotunda.
Radix perennis, repens.
Caulis debilis, palmaris et ultra, erectiusculus, basi ple-
rumque decumbens, flexuosus, subramosus, ge-
niculatus, quadrangulatus, angulis scabriusculis,
aculeis minutissimis, remotis, retrorsum reflexis.
FOLIA verticillata, senà, varie patentia, sæpe reflexa,
magnitudine æqualia, lanceolata, apice acuminu-
lata, rigida, subnitentia, uninervia, margine, ner-
voque subtus interdum, aculeis retrorsum spec-
tantibus scabra ; reliqua omnino glabra. Color,
etiam in exsiccatione pallide flavo-viridis.
FLORES in ramulis lateralibus terminalesque. Paniculi
“parvi, subcorymbosi, laxi, trifidi, basi foliosi, foliis
senis, ultimis solum modo binis.
Calyx fructui adbærens.
Corolla rotata, alba, fructil major, quadrifida, segment
s ovatis, acutis.
Stamina quatuor. Filamenta brevia. Anthene rotun-
datæ, flavæ.
Germen inferum. Stylus bifidus, segments divergent-
bus. Stgma capitatum.
Froctus bilobus, lobis rotundatis, glabris. Semina duo.
Root perennial, creeping.
Stem weak, six inches or more in length, nearly erect,
at the base generally decumbent, flexuose, somewhat
branched, geniculate, quadrangular, having
the angles rough with minute, distant aculei,
which are bent backward.
Leaves vertcillate, six together, variously patent, often
reflexed, equal in size, lanceolate, acuminulate
at the apex, rigid, somewhat shining, one-nerved,
with the margin and sometimes the nerve beneath
rough, the rest altogether smooth. Colour even
in the dried state pale-yellow green.
Flowers upon lateral ramules and likewise terminal.
Panicles small, somewhat corymbose, lax, trifid,
leafy at the base, with the leaves six together,
the uppermost only two.
Calyx adhering to the fruit.
Corolla rotate, white, larger than the fruit, quadrifid,
with the segments ovate, acute.
Stamens four. Filaments short. Anthers roundish,
yellow.
Germen below the Corolla. Style bifid, with the segments
diverging. Stigma capitate.
Fruit two-lobed, the lobes rounded, smooth. Seeds two.
Fig. 1. A leaf showing the reflexed aculei of the margin and the acuminulated point. Fig. 2. Flower, nat. size.
Fig. 3. Flower magnified. Fig. 4. Anthers. Fig. 5. Germen with the style and stigma.
Among the British species of Galium, that to which our present plant is most nearly allied is undoubtedly
Galium Witheringii of Smith, the Galium montanum of Withering (not o f Linnæus). Possessing no specimens ourselves
of this, we can point out only such discriminating characters as those with which the authors just mentioned
have furnished us. Some marks of difference indeed are observable between the figures of Withering and of Smith.
In the former the aculei of the stem are represented as pointing upwards, while in the description the stems are
merely said to be rough ; in the figure in English Botany they point downwards, and in the description the stems
are said to be rough with reflexed hooks. Both, however, accord in the margins of the leaves being rough with
bristles or hooks which point upwards ; and this character, if constant, seems to be the only one on which its claim
to a species rests. The leaf according to Withering is tipped with a hair, and not with a rigid bristle or prickle :
Sir James Smith, on the contrary, says it is often tipped with a bristly point. The anthers are, by Withering, said
to be red-brown, and the pistil to be cloven down to the base ; whilst in English Botany the anthers are stated to
be at first of a pale-yellow green, then red, reddish or red-brown, and the pistil is represented as not divided more
than halt way down, as in G. saxatile. We trust at some future opportunity to be better acquainted with this species.
Galium saxatile ( procumbens of Withering, and montanum of Hudson,) deserves mention here, from its having
many characters in common with G. uliginosum. Independently of its different place of growth, it is a procumbent
plant, and though of humbler size more robust in habit; its leaves are more closely set, obovate, obtuse, (not
lanceolate,) and. terminated by a short point; the aculei of their margins point upwards, and the flowers are more
compactly clustered ; added to which, the whole plant in drying becomes nearly black, like G. palustre. From
G. pusillum it difters in having fewer leaves, and in the roughness of the stalk and leaves, both of ixhich are said
to be only smooth or pubescent in G. pusillum.
Lamarck in his Encyclopédie has made the G. uliginosum of Linnæus the variety /3. of his G. supinum, assuring
us that it is distinguishable from his a. in having the stems “ un peu velues, ou hérissées inférieurement,” and in
having the leaves less rough at the border. But Decandolle in the last edition of his Flore Française has determined
them to be distinct species, saying that G. uliginosum may be known from supinum by its larger size and
more erect growth, and particularly by the angles of the stem being so rough with curved aculei .that they are visible
to the naked eye, whilst in the last-mentioned species they are smooth.
With -us G. uliginosum is abundant in very wet places, such as produce the G. palustre, flowering about the same
time, as that species.