in botany: A genus of plants in the order Monocotyledons, of the class Polygynia, and in the natural system arranged under the first order, the Asperifoliaceae. There is scarcely any calyx; the corolla is monopetalous, flat, four-parted; the filaments four, with small anthers; the hermaphrodite flowers have a pistillum with a large germen, a bifid style, the length of the calyx, and one seed; the pistilla of the male flowers are hardly discernible. There are eight species, only one of which is a native of Britain, the cruciata; the stalks of which are square, the whole plant hairy, the leaves oval and verticillate, four in a whorl; the flowers are yellow, and grow on short peduncles out of the axil of the leaves. The roots, like those of the galiums, to which it is nearly related, will dye red. It is astringent, and was once used as a vulnerary.