Galium saxatile, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 33

118. G. saxatile L. , Sp. Pl. 106 (1753)

( G. harcynicum Weigel ).

Laxly caespitose, blackish-brown when dry, with slender tap-root and filiform, more or less rooting stolons. Stems (8-) 15-35(-40) cm, ascending, glabrous and smooth; middle internodes mostly 3-5 times as long as the leaves. Leaves 4—11 (—15) x (0-5-)l-5-2-5 (-3-5) mm, in whorls of (5-)6-7(-8), the lower obovate, the upper oblanceolate, widest in the uppermost quarter, abruptly contracted into a short hyaline awn, thin; margin almost always antrorsely ciliolate, weakly revolute; midrib slender, distinct. Inflorescence elongate-interrupted, ovoid, with short branches. Pedicels 2-5 mm, divaricate after flowering. Corolla 2-5-4 mm in diameter, white, indistinctly infundibuliform at the base; lobes flat, patent, acute. Fruit 1-1-6 mm, acutely papillose. 2я= 22, 44. Pastures, heaths and scrub', calcifuge. • W. & W.C. Europe, extending eastwards very locally to N. W. Russia and C. Carpathians. Au Az Be Br Cz Da Fa Ga Ge Hb He Ho Hs Ju Lu No Po Rs (C, W) Su [*Fe].

Diploid plants are smaller in all parts with internodes not more than 3 cm, leaves not more than 5 mm, and fruits с. 1 mm; they seem to be limited to the mountains of C. & N. Portugal and N.W. & C. Spain and have been separated as subsp. vivianum (Kliphuis) Ehrend. , Pl. Syst. Evol. 124: 176 (1975).