R U B I A peregrina.
W ild Madder.
TETRANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. C har. Cor. of one petal, bell-Oiaped, fuperior.
Berries 2, each with a tingle feed.
Spec. C har. Leaves about four in a whorl, elliptical;
fhining and fmooth on their upper fide. Flowers
five-cleft.
Syn. Rubia peregrina. Linn. Sp. PL Sm. FI.
Brit. 181. Hudf. 65.
R . tin&orum. With. 193. Hull. 35.
R . fylveftris afpera, quae fylveftris Diofcoridis. Rail
Syn. 223.
T H E Wild Madder is not unfrequent in South Wales,
Cornwall, Devonthire, St. Vincent’s rocks Briftol, and fome
few other places in the fouth-weft part of England. It grows
among buthes on a rich or loamy foil, flowering in July, And
ripening its berries rather late in the autumn.
Roots perennial, creeping, their inner bark red or orange-
coloured, having the property of dyeing red like the R. tinBorum,
from which however this fpeciesis moft decidedly diftm£t, and
from which it may be known by the fmooth (though finely
granulated) upper furface of its leaves. The herb in mild
■ winters is ever-green. Stems branched, fquare, prickly, brittle,
and, when not fupported, procumbent. Leaves rigid, four
(rarely five or fix) in a whorl, reflexed, fhining, elliptical,
broader and lefs pointed than thofe of R. tinBorum, very rough
with little hooked prickles on the margin and nerve. Panicles
forked, terminal. Calyx none. Corolla almoft univerfally
5. cleft, with 5 ftamina, yellowifli green, concave, but fhallow.
Germen fmooth. Berries in pairs, deep-black; one of them
often abortive.