GALLIUM, LADIES BEDSTRAW, in botany, a genus of the tetrandria monogynia class. The corolla consists of one plane petal; and the seeds are two, and round. There are 23 species, 11 of them natives of Britain, viz. the verum, or yellow ladies-bedstraw; the mollugo, or wild madder; the montanum, or mountain ladies-bedstraw; the uliginosum, or marshy goose-
grafs; the erectum, or small mountain bastard madder; the pusillum, or least ladies-bedstraw; the palustre, or white ladies-bedstraw; the spurium, or goose-grafs with smoother seeds; the aparine, cleavers, or goose-grafs; the parisiense, or least goose-grafs; and the boreale, or crosswood madder.