Family - Rubiaceae

Stems - To +/-30cm tall, erect to ascending, herbaceous, multiple from the base, 4-angled, glabrous, hollow, branching.

Leaves - In whorls of 4, sessile, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 3 times as long as broad, to +/-4cm long, +/-1cm broad, acute, with a single prominent midrib and 2 faint lateral veins, entire, slightly scabrous, strigose on midrib above and below, antrorse strigillose on the margins. Leaf with pustulate glands in leaf tissue abaxially.

Inflorescence - Terminal and axillary cymes. Each division of cyme subtended by small linear bracts. Pedicels glabrous, to -2cm long.

Flowers - Corolla purplish-red, 3mm broad, 4-lobed, glabrous. Lobes acute to apiculate, spreading. The apices often whitened. Stamens 4, spreading. Filaments purple, .6mm long. Anthers purple, .2mm long. Style purple, glabrous, .5mm long. Stigma 2-lobed. Ovary inferior, 2-carpellate, green, glabrous, 1.2mm long. One ovule per carpel.

Flower close-up.

Flowering - May - June.

Habitat - Rocky open woods, openings in woods, borders of glades.

Origin - Native to U.S.

Other info. - This little plant is found in the Ozark region of Missouri. The plant is easy to ID in the field because of its four lanceolate leaves and its purple-red flowers.

Photographs taken off Hwy 106, Shannon County, MO., 6-6-03.