Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Northern Bedstraw
Galium boreale
Madder family (Rubiaceae)

A squared stem and 4 narrow leaves are distinctive of Bedstraw. The sweet smell of its stems made the plant a favorite for use as mattress straw, hence one of its common names. The plant is also often called "Cleavers" because it cleaves to clothes with its many barbed hairs. "Gala" is Greek for milk (as in our "Galaxy," the "Milky Way") and refers to Northern Bedstraw's bad habit of curdling the milk of cattle. "Boreale" is Greek for "northern."


©2009 Alfred Cook

Description

Fragrant , 8-20" tall, with showy white-cream flowers in loose clusters that are repeatedly 3-forked. Flowers comprised of 4 petals, 4 , and 2 . Stems are hollow and square with 4 narrow, leaves arranged in whorls at that can also have secondary branches.

Field Marks

Fragrant, showy white flowers with 4 petals and square stems.

© Al Schneider

stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.

node -- The point at which there is attached growth, as in the place where each leaf is attached.

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).

whorled -- The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 or more leaves along the stems of a plant.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.