Galium liratum
N.A.Wakef. Furrowed BedstrawProstrate to procumbent annual or biennial; stems slender, mostly 15–40 cm long, with tiny retrorse prickles, or glabrous. Leaves and stipules c. equal, in whorls of 4(–5), elliptic to obovate, mostly 10–15 mm long and 2–5 mm wide, acute to obtuse-mucronate, upper and lower surfaces usually with scattered hairs, lacking glandular cells, margins flat to slightly recurved; petiole distinct, 1–5 mm long. Inflorescences mostly 1–3-flowered, all not exceeding whorls or lowermost sometimes exceeding whorls when mature; peduncles to c. 1 mm long; pedicels 0.5–1.5 mm long, straight or slightly curved. Corolla 1.5–2 mm diam., cream. Fruit depressed-globose, to c. 1.3–1.8 mm long; mericarps reniform, touching one another, longitudinally ribbed. Flowers Oct.–Apr.
GipP, EGL, EGU, HSF, MonT, HFE, VAlp. Also NSW, ACT. In Victoria confined to East Gippsland east from the Mitchell River, usually occurring in moist sclerophyll forests, often amongst rocks.
Galium liratum is the only native Victorian species in which occasional whorls of 5 or 6 have been detected (Thompson 2009). It is also the only Victorian species to lack glandular cells. These are filled with a whitish material which becomes clear to honey coloured or occasionally pinkish on drying. They are evident on the abaxial leaf, stipule and cyme-bract surfaces when present. They are particularly noticeable at the upper nodes and towards the apices where several glandular cells coalesce to form a patch (Thompson 2009). Leaves and stipules also often possess opaque pale steaks of similar dimensions to glandular cells visible on the abaxial surface which are not glandular cells (Thompson 2009). These do not coalesce near the apex.
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Rubiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 616–642. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning