Crucianella
(diminutive of crux, a cross; in allusion to the leaves being placed crosswise). Crosswort. ORD. Rubiaceae. Annual or perennial (mostly) hardy herbaceous plants. Flowers hermaphrodite, spicate or fasciculate, bracteate, or ebracteate; corolla tubular, elongated, funnel-shaped. Leaves whorled, with from four to a considerable number in each whorl, linear or lanceolate. The annual species are not worth growing. The perennials are very pretty plants, of easy cultivation in ordinary garden soil; they are readily increased by seeds, or by divisions, during spring or autumn. There are about twenty-six species, confined to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia. C. glauca (glaucous). fl. yellow, remotely spicate; bracts and floral leaves ovate, ciliated. July. l. four in a whorl, linear, mucronate, with prickly revolute edges. Stems erectish, branched. Persia, 1837. Perennial. C. maritima (maritime). fl. cream-coloured, axillary, disposed in interrupted spikes. July and August. l. four in a whorl, lanceolate, stiff, marginate, mucronate. Mediterranean region, 1640. Plant suffruticose, procumbent, much branched, glaucous, glabrous. Perennial.
C. suaveolens (sweet-smelling). fl. yellow, opposite, disposed in dense spikes; floral leaves and bracts lanceolate, ciliated, a little shorter than the corollas. July. l. linear, mucronate, with prickly revolute edges, six or eight in a whorl. Stem herbaceous, erect, branched. West Asia, &c., 1838. Perennial.