Galium rubioides, 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 : 19-20

7. G. rubioides L. , Sp. Pl. 105 (1753) .

Stolons rooting. Stems 45-130 cm, erect, stout, weakly 4-angled below, distinctly 4- angled above, glabrous or hairy. Leaves 35-80 x 9-25 mm,

elliptical to ovate-oblong, usuallywidest below the middle, obtuse, usually coriaceous, glabrous or more or less hairy; veins conspicuous, especially beneath. Inflorescence broadly ovoid, manyflowered; pedicels (2-)3-5 mm. Corolla (3- 5—)4-5(—6) mm in diameter, rotate. Fruit c. 3 mm, almost always glabrous, more or less inflated when ripe, withl oosening pericarp. 2n - 66. Wet meadows and scrub. E. Europe, southwards to C. Bulgaria, and extending westwards to C. Austria. Au Bu Cz Hu Ju?Po Rs (N, В, C, W, К, E) [He].

6 and 7 are parts of a widespread polyploid complex, and there are many intermediates between them in E. Europe; in the U.S.S.R. many microspecies have been described on the basis of variation in the form of the leaf and in the indumentum of leaf and stem. In the European part of the U.S.S.R., the following may be mentioned: G. articulatum Lam. , Tabi. Encycl. Méth. Bot. 1: 260 (1792) (G. geniculatum Roemer & Schultes), G. volgense Pobed. in Schischkin, Fl. URSS 23: 715 (1958), G. mugodsharicum Pobed. , op. cit. 717 (1958), G. exoletum Klokov in Kotov, FI. RSS Ucr. 10: 458 (1961), G. praeboreale Klokov , op. cit. 459 (1961) and G. pseudoboreale Klokov , op. cit. 460 (1961), related to 6; G. pseudorubioides Klokov , op. cit. 460 (1961), intermediate; G. dasypodum Klokov , op. cit. 461 (1961) and G. salicifolium Klokov , op. cit. 462 (1961), related to 7. The status of these taxa as species remains uncertain without detailed cytotaxonomic analysis.