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Northern Bedstraw

Northern Bedstraw

Galium boreale

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How common: Common

Northern Bedstraw is an upright, long‑lived wildflower with many tiny white, star‑like blooms. It spreads by creeping runners and has stiff, square stems about 25–40 cm tall. You can see it in open grasslands and light woods across the cooler parts of Europe, Asia and North America.

Did you know?

  • Spreads by creeping runners and can form patches.
  • Its roots were once used to dye wool red; other parts can give green, yellow and brown shades.

About the species

Identification

Perennial that spreads by creeping runners. Stems upright, stiff and smooth, square in cross‑section, often reddish at the base, 25–40 cm tall. Leaves grow in circles of four around the stem; two are longer and two shorter. They are narrow, fairly thick, with a blunt tip and edges slightly rolled under. At the top grows a narrow, branched cluster packed with tiny white, four‑pointed flowers. Later it bears small twin seeds that often have tiny hooks and may stick to fur. Four leaves per circle and the stiff square stem help tell it from other bedstraws. Flowers in Finland from July to September.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

rock, herb-rich forest, meadow, shore

Flowering

Jul–Sep

About the habitat

Dry meadows and grasslands, sunny forest edges and open dry woods, riverbanks, and roadsides. Common in most of Finland; rare in Kainuu and in the Käsivarsi area of northwest Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Iifar, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galium boreale - värvmadar Keilas.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39284

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Sisävedet: rantaniityt, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39284

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahomatara

See also