G A L I U M verrucosum.
Warty-fruited Bedstraw.
TETR ANURIA Monogynia.
G en. C har. Cor. of one petal, flat, superior. Seeds 2,
roundish. ~
Spec. Char. Leaves six in a whorl, lanceolate, with
marginal prickles pointing forward. Flower-stalks
axillary, three-flowered. Fruit warty, drooping.
Syn . Galium verrucosum. Sm. Prod. FI. Grcee. Sibth.
v. 1. 9 3 .
G. tricorne. Don Herb. B r i t .fa s c .5. 103.
Valantia Aparine. Linn. Sp. PI. 149 1.
Aparine semine coriandri saccharati. Tourn. Inst. 114.
Faill. Paris, t. 4 . ƒ. 3 , b.
W H E T H E R this species of Galium, confounded by almost
all botanists with our tricorne, t. 1641, has ever been gathered
in Britain before Mr. G. Don observed it in corn-fields in the
Carse of Gowrie, Scotland, we have no sure means of knowing,
but we are certain of the above synonyms. It has been
observed near Malton, Yorkshire, by Mr. R. Miller, and is
annual, flowering from June to August.
Root slender, turning reddish when dried, and retaining
the cotyledons long at its summit. Stems several, somewhat
branched, their angles rough with reflexed prickles. Leaves
six in each whorl, their marginal prickles pointing all forward,
not backward; by which invariable character, and the large
pyramidal tubercles that cover the fruit, and give it the appearance
of a coriander comfit, this species is clearly distinguished
from tricorne. Linnaeus referred it to Valantia because
some flowers have no pistil, but the generic characters in the
fruit of real Valantice are strikingly peculiar, and quite unlike
those of Galium.