Northern bedstraw | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Rubiaceae |
Genus: | Galium |
Species: | G. boreale |
Binomial name | |
Galium boreale | |
Galium boreale or northern bedstraw [1] is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread over the temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America including most of Canada and the northern United States. [2] [3] [4]
G. boreale is a perennial plant that dies back to the ground every winter. [5] [6] Established plants spread by rhizomes, creating colonies of new plants around the original one. [5] [6] [7]
The squarish unbranched stems may grow between 20 centimetres (7.9 in) and 50 centimetres (20 in) tall. [5] [6] The leaves are attached directly to the stem in groups of four; spaced evenly like the spokes of a wheel. [5] [6] [7] Leaves are longer than they are wide and have three prominent veins. [5] [6] [7]
The small white flowers grow in a fairly showy panicles from the top of the stem. [5] [6] [7] Each individual flower has 4 pointed segments that fold back from a fused tube enclosing the stamens and pistil. [5] [6] The lightly perfumed flowers have no calyx. [5] [6] Seeds are formed in pairs in dark fruits that may be covered in short hairs. [5] [6] [7] The Latin specific epithet boreale means northern. [8]
Galium boreale is found in sunny areas with dry to moist soil in forests, shrubs or grassland. [5] [6] It is native to the sub arctic and temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. [9] [7] It is listed as endangered in the states of Maryland and Massachusetts. [10]
Galium boreale is confirmed as a food plant for the larvae of Deilephila elpenor , D. porcellus , Epirrhoe galiata , Eupithecia subumbrata and Gandaritis pyraliata . [11]
The species Galium boreale was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 based on the European population. [12] [9]
Galium foliis quaternis lanceolatis trinerviis glabris, caule erecto, seminibus hispidis.
— Carl Linnaeus, "Galium boreale", Species Plantarum (1753)
In 1818, Galium septentrionale Roem. & Schult. was described by Johann Jacob Roemer and Josef August Schultes based on the North American population. [9] [13] G. septentrionale was determined to be a synonym of G. boreale in 2003. [9]
Galium boreale is edible, with a sweet smell and taste, and can be eaten as a wild salad green. Varieties such as Galium boreale which do not contain the small hooks on the stem are not as palatable as the hooked varieties of Galium, like Galium aparine , but are important plants to remember for survival purposes. [14] Galium boreale is known as "bedstraw" because it is used as fragrant stuffing for mattresses. [15] There is also chemical evidence for its roots use in red textile dyes during the "Viking age" (year 800 to 1066). [16]
Comptonia peregrina is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae native to eastern North America. It is the only extant (living) species in the genus Comptonia, although a number of extinct species are placed in the genus.
Sherardia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, Sherardia arvensis, the (blue) field madder, which is widespread across most of Europe and northern Africa as well as southwest and central Asia and Macaronesia. It is also reportedly naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Kerguelen, Ethiopia, Sudan, southern Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Bermuda, Cuba, Haiti and much of Canada and the United States.
Allium canadense, the Canada onion, Canadian garlic, wild garlic, meadow garlic and wild onion is a perennial plant native to eastern North America from Texas to Florida to New Brunswick to Montana. The species is also cultivated in other regions as an ornamental and as a garden culinary herb. The plant is also reportedly naturalized in Cuba.
Teucrium is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, commonly known as germanders. Plants in this genus are perennial herbs or shrubs, with branches that are more or less square in cross-section, leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and flowers arranged in thyrses, the corolla with mostly white to cream-coloured, lobed petals.
Galium verum is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Israel, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is naturalized in Tasmania, New Zealand, Canada, and the northern half of the United States.
Cephalanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. There are about six species that are commonly known as buttonbush.
Galium triflorum is a herbaceous plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread in northern Europe, eastern Asia, the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, and North America. The plant is considered a noxious weed in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Galium palustre, the common marsh bedstraw or simply marsh-bedstraw, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae. This plant is widely distributed, native to virtually every country in Europe, plus Morocco, the Azores, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Western Siberia, Greenland, eastern Canada, St. Pierre & Miquelon, and parts of the United States. The species is classified as a noxious weed in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. It is considered naturalized in Kamchatka, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.
Galium aparine, with common names including cleavers, clivers, catchweed, robin-run-the-hedge, goosegrass,and sticky willy, is an annual, herbaceous plant of the family Rubiaceae.
Galium hardhamiae is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family Rubiaceae, known by the common name Hardham's bedstraw. The scientific name may be misspelled Galium hardhamae. It is endemic to the Santa Lucia Range of southern Monterey County and northern San Luis Obispo County in California. It is a member of the serpentine soils flora in these coastal mountains. This is a perennial herb forming mats or clumps of stems no more than 30 centimeters long. The stems have many whorls of six fleshy green leaves, each leaf just 1 to 3 millimeters long. The inflorescences, clusters of yellow-green to pinkish flowers, appear in leaf axils.
Galium murale is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names small goosegrass, yellow wall bedstraw and tiny bedstraw. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin of southern Europe and northern Africa, and the Middle East from Turkey and the Caucasus east to Iran and south to Saudi Arabia and Somalia. It is also considered native to the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores. It is naturalised in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and California.
Galium parisiense is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae known by the common name wall bedstraw. A native of the Mediterranean area and Western Europe, it has become naturalised in North America and other parts of Europe.
Galium serpenticum is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family (Rubiaceae) known by the common name intermountain bedstraw or many-flowered bedstraw.
Galium trifidum is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family, known by the common name three-petal bedstraw. It grows widespread in the arctic, temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere: northern and central Asia, northern and eastern Europe and much of North America.
Galium rubioides, the European bedstraw, is a species of plants in the family Rubiaceae, native to Europe and Asia. Natural distribution is from Austria and Croatia east to Russia and Turkey, plus the Caucasus, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, northern China and the Amur region of Russia. The species is also reportedly naturalized in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
Galium rubrum is a plant species in the Rubiaceae. It is known only from mountainous areas on Switzerland and northern Italy.
Galium elongatum is a species of plants in the Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from Turkey to Palestine to Iran.
Galium glaucophyllum, the Sardinian bedstraw, is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean.
Galium montis-arerae, the Pizzo Arera bedstraw, is a rare plant species in the Rubiaceae. It is named after the mountain called Pizzo Arera, in the Bergamo Alps of Lombardia region in northern Italy. It is found only in the range from Monte Pegherolo to Concarena in Bergamasque Prealps.
Galium megalospermum, the Swiss bedstraw or big-seeded bedstraw, is a plant species in the Rubiaceae. It is native to the Alps in Central Europe.