G. MOLLuGO, L. Perennial, smooth throughout; stems erect or diffuse, 2 or 3 long; leaves 8, or 6 on the branchlets, oblanceolate to nearly linear; flowers very numerous in ample almost leafless panicles; fruit smooth.--Roadsides and fields, N. Y. and Penn. (Nat. from Eu.)

G. aNGLIc.u.m, Huds. Annual, slender, diffuse, seldom 1 high, glabrous; leaves 5--7, oblanceolate to nearly linear (3" long), their margins and the angles of the stem spinulose-scabrous; flowers rather few, cymulose on leafy branches, greenish-white, very small; fruit glabrous, more or less tuberculate.--Roadsides, Bedford Co., Va. (_Curtiss_). (Nat. from Eu.)

G. TRICoRNE, With. Annual, resembling _G. Aparine_, rather stout, with simple branches; leaves 6 or 8, oblanceolate, cuspidate-mucronate, the margins and stem retrorsely p.r.i.c.kly-hispid; flowers mostly in cl.u.s.ters of 3, dull white; fruits rather large, tuberculate-granulate, not hairy, pendulous.--Fields, eastward. (Nat. from Eu.)

-- 2. _Indigenous species; fruit dry._

[*] _Annual; leaves about 8 in a whorl; peduncles 1--3-flowered, axillary; fruit bristly with hooked p.r.i.c.kles._

1. G. Aparne, L. (CLEAVERS. GOOSE-GRa.s.s.) Stem weak and reclining, bristle-p.r.i.c.kly backward, hairy at the joints; leaves lanceolate, tapering to the base, short-pointed, rough on the margins and midrib (1--2' long); flowers white.--Shaded grounds, throughout the continent; probably as an introduced plant eastward.

[*][*] _Perennials; leaves in 4's, comparatively large, and broad (narrower in n. 7 and 8), not cuspidate-pointed, more or less distinctly 3-nerved; fruit uncinate-hispid (except in n. 6 and 7)._

[+] _Peduncles loosely 3--several-flowered; flowers dull purple to yellowish-white._

2. G. pilsum, Ait. _Hairy; leaves oval_, dotted, hairy (1' long), the lateral nerves obscure; _peduncles 2--3-forked, the flowers all pedicelled_.--Dry copses, R. I. and Vt. to Ill., E. Kan., and southward.

Var. puncticulsum, Torr. & Gray. Almost glabrous; leaves varying to elliptical-oblong, hispidulous-ciliate.--Va. to Tex.

3. G. Kamtschatic.u.m, Steller. Stems weak, mainly glabrous (1 high); _leaves...o...b..cular_ to oblong-ovate, thin (--1' long), slightly pilose; flowers slenderly pedicellate; _corolla glabrous, yellowish-white_, not turning dark, _its lobes merely acute_. (G. circaezans, var. montanum, _Torr. & Gray_.)--Higher mountains of N. Eng., L. Canada, and far westward. (Asia.)

4. G. circae'zans, Michx. (WILD LIQUORICE.) Smooth or downy (1 high); _leaves oval_, varying to ovate-oblong, _mostly obtuse_, ciliate (1--1'

long); _peduncles usually once forked, the branches elongated_ and widely diverging in fruit, _bearing several remote flowers on very short lateral pedicels_, reflexed in fruit; lobes of the _greenish corolla hairy outside, acute or ac.u.minate_.--Rich woods, N. Eng. to Minn., south to Fla. and Tex.

5. G. lanceolatum, Torr. (WILD LIQUORICE.) Nearly glabrous; _leaves_ (except the lowest) _lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, tapering to the apex_ (2' long); _corolla glabrous, yellowish turning dull purple, lobes more ac.u.minate_; otherwise like the last.--Dry woods, N. Eng. to N. Mich. and Minn.

6. G. latiflium, Michx. Smooth (1--2 high); _leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate_, acute (2' long), the midrib and margins rough; cymes panicled, loosely many-flowered, the purple flowers on _slender spreading pedicels; fruit smooth_, rather fleshy.--Dry woods, mountains of Penn. to N. C. and Tenn.

7. G. Arkansanum, Gray. Similar but lower; leaves lanceolate to linear (1' long or less), the lateral nerves obscure or none.--S. Mo. and Ark.

[+][+] _Leaves narrow; flowers bright white, numerous in a compact panicle._

8. G. boreale, L. (NORTHERN BEDSTRAW.) Smooth (1--2 high); leaves linear-lanceolate; fruit minutely bristly, sometimes smooth.--Rocky banks of streams, Maine to Penn., Iowa, Minn., and westward. (Eu., Asia.)

[*][*][*] _Leaves in 4's, 5's, or 6's, small, 1-nerved; flowers white; fruit smooth (flowers greenish and fruit hispid in n. 12.)_

[+] _Leaves pointless._

9. G. trifidum, L. (SMALL BEDSTRAW.) Stems weak, ascending (5--20'

high), branching, mostly roughened backwards on the angles; _leaves in whorls of 4 to 6_, linear or oblanceolate, the margins and midrib rough; _peduncles scattered, 1--7-flowered_; corolla-lobes and stamens often only 3.--Sphagnous bogs and wet ground, throughout the continent.

Exceedingly variable.--Var. PUSiLLUM, Gray, the smallest form; leaves only in 4's, 3--4" long, narrow, in age often reflexed; peduncles 1-flowered. In cold bogs, northward.--Var. LATIFLIUM, Torr., the larger and broadest-leaved form; leaves 6 or 7" long, often 2" wide.

From Canada, south and west. (Eu., Asia.)

10. G. concinnum, Torr. & Gray. Stems low and slender (6--12' high), with minutely roughened angles; _leaves all in 6's, linear, slightly pointed_, veinless, the margins upwardly roughened; _peduncles 2--3 times forked, diffusely panicled_; pedicels short.--Dry hills, Penn. to Va., west to Minn., Iowa, and Ark.

[+][+] _Leaves cuspidately mucronate or ac.u.minate._

11. G. asprellum, Michx. (ROUGH BEDSTRAW.) _Stem_ much branched, _rough backwards with hooked p.r.i.c.kles_, leaning on bushes (3--5 high); _leaves in whorls of 6, or 4--5 on the branchlets, oval-lanceolate_, with almost p.r.i.c.kly margins and midrib; peduncles short, 2--3 times forked.--Alluvial ground, N. Eng. to N. C., west to Minn., Iowa, and Mo.

12. G. triflrum, Michx. (SWEET-SCENTED BEDSTRAW.) Stem (1--3 long) bristly-roughened backward on the angles; leaves elliptical-lanceolate, bristle pointed, with slightly roughened margins (1--2' long); peduncles 3-flowered, the flowers all pedicelled, greenish; fruit beset with hooked bristles.--Rich woodlands, throughout the continent.

Sweet-scented in drying. (Eu.)

-- 3. _Perennial; fruit a berry; leaves in 4's, 1-nerved._

13. G. hispidulum, Michx. Hirsute-p.u.b.escent, scabrous, or sometimes nearly smooth, 1--2 high, diffusely branched; leaves oblong or oval, mucronate (3--6" long), pedicels solitary or commonly 2 or 3 from the small involucral whorl, all naked, or one of them bracteolate; flowers white; berry purple, glabrate.--Dry or sandy soil, southern N. J. to Fla., along the coast.

8. SHERaRDIA, Dill.

Calyx-lobes lanceolate, persistent. Corolla funnel-form, the limb 4--5-lobed. Stamens 4--5. Style filiform, 2-cleft, stigmas capitate.

Fruit dry, twin, of 2 indehiscent 1-seeded carpels.--A slender proc.u.mbent herb, with square stems, lanceolate pungent leaves in whorls of 4--6, and small subsessile blue or pinkish flowers surrounded by a gamophyllous involucre. (Named for _Dr. William Sherard_, patron of Dillenius.)

S. ARVeNSIS, L. The only species; sparingly naturalized from Eu.

ORDER 53. VALERIANaCEae. (VALERIAN FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with opposite leaves and no stipules; the calyx-tube coherent with the ovary, which has one fertile 1-ovuled cell and two abortive or empty ones; the stamens distinct, 1--3, fewer than the lobes of the corolla, and inserted on its tube._--Corolla tubular or funnel-form, often irregular, mostly 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud. Style slender; stigmas 1--3. Fruit indehiscent, 1-celled (the two empty cells of the ovary disappearing), or 3-celled, two of them empty, the other 1-seeded. Seed suspended, anatropous, with a large embryo and no alb.u.men.--Flowers in panicled or cl.u.s.tered cymes. (Roots often odorous and antispasmodic.)

1. VALERIaNA, Tourn. VALERIAN.

Limb of the calyx of several plumose bristles (like a pappus) which are rolled up inward in flower, but unroll and spread as the seed-like 1-celled fruit matures. Corolla commonly gibbous near the base, the 5-lobed limb nearly regular. Stamens 3.--Perennial herbs, with thickened strong-scented roots, and simple or pinnate leaves. Flowers in many species imperfectly dicious or dimorphous. (A mediaeval Latin name of uncertain origin.)

[*] _Root spindle-shaped, large and deep (6--12' long); leaves thickish._

1. V. edulis, Nutt. Smooth, or minutely downy when very young; stem straight (1--4 high), few-leaved; leaves commonly minutely and densely ciliate, those of the root spatulate and lanceolate, of the stem pinnately parted into 3--7 long and narrow divisions; flowers in a long and narrow interrupted panicle, nearly dicious; corolla whitish, obconical (2" long).--Wet plains and prairies, Ohio and Ont. to Iowa, Minn., and westward. June.

[*][*] _Root fibrous; leaves thin. (Stems 1--3 high.)_

2. V. sylvatica, Banks. Smooth or minutely p.u.b.escent; _root-leaves ovate or oblong, entire_, rarely with 2 small lobes; stem-leaves pinnate, with 3--11 oblong-ovate or lanceolate nearly entire leaflets; cyme at first close, many-flowered; _corolla inversely conical_ (3" long, rose-color or white).--Wet ground, Newf. to southern N. Y., N. Mich., westward and northward. June.

3. V. pauciflra, Michx. Smooth, slender, surculose; _root-leaves ovate, heart-shaped, toothed_, pointed, sometimes with 2 small lateral divisions; stem-leaves pinnate, with 3--7 ovate toothed leaflets; branches of the panicled cyme few-flowered; tube of the (pale pink) _corolla long and slender_ (' long).--Woods and alluvial banks, Penn. to S. Ill., Mo., and Tenn. June.

2. VALERIANeLLA, Tourn. CORN SALAD. LAMB-LETTUCE.

Limb of the calyx obsolete or merely toothed. Corolla funnel-form, equally or unequally 5-lobed. Stamens 3, rarely 2. Fruit 3-celled, two of the cells empty and sometimes confluent into one, the other 1-seeded.--Annuals and biennials, usually smooth, with forking stems, tender and rather succulent leaves (entire or cut-lobed towards the base), and white or whitish cymose-cl.u.s.tered and bracted small flowers.--Our species all have the limb of the calyx obsolete, and are so much alike in aspect, flowers, etc., that good characters are only to be taken from the fruit. They all have a rather short corolla, the limb of which is nearly regular. (Name a diminutive of Valeriana.)

[*] _Corolla bluish; fruit with a corky ma.s.s at the back of the fertile cell._

V. OLITRIA, Poll. Fruit flattish, obliquely rhomboidal; empty cells as large as the fertile, contiguous, the thin part.i.tion at length breaking up.--Old fields, N. Y. to Penn. and La. (Nat. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Corolla white; no corky ma.s.s behind the fertile cell._

[+] _Fertile cell broader than the empty ones; cross-section of fruit triangular._

1. V. chenopodiflia, DC. Stems with long internodes and few forks; glomerate cymes few, slender-peduncled; bracts broadly lanceolate; fruit glabrous or p.u.b.escent, 2" long. (Fedia f.a.gopyrum, _Torr. & Gray_.)--Moist grounds, western N. Y. to Minn., south to Va. and Ky.