Suomi
Svenska
White Bedstraw
Galium album
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Invasive alien species
White Bedstraw is a tall, white‑flowered wildflower that often spreads with creeping runners. It carries many tiny white, four‑pointed flowers in open, branched clusters. You can see it in meadows, pastures, roadsides, and at the edges of fields and woods across much of Europe, and it has spread to other regions.
Did you know?
- It often hybridises with Lady’s Bedstraw, producing pale yellow plants that blur the line between the two.
- Unlike the sticky “goosegrass”, its stems and tiny fruits are smooth.
About the species
Identification
Perennial with creeping runners, 30–100 cm tall. Upright, smooth, four‑edged stems are sturdy at the base. Leaves are narrow, a little firm, often widest near the tip, and grow in rings of 6–8 around the stem. The top of the plant bears a wide, airy spray of many branches. Flowers are tiny (3–5 mm), flat and four‑pointed, bright white and without scent. Fruits are very small (about 1 mm), smooth and brown. Telling points: flowers white (Lady’s Bedstraw is yellow; the hybrid is pale yellow), and the plant is not sticky like goosegrass. Flowers in Finland from June to August.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
meadow
Flowering
Jun–Aug
About the habitat
Open, dry to moderately moist grasslands, pastures, road and rail verges, field margins and forest edges. Common in South and Central Finland, rare elsewhere.
Sources
Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galium album Przytulia biała 2022-09-11 Sołtysowice 01.jpg
Text: Pinkka: Laaja maatalouslajintuntemus 4 op - Koppisiemeniset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39293
Text: FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39293
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paimenmatara
