CLEAVERS 



By Lucina H. Lumbard. 



Rough cleavers or clivers {Galium asprelluui), with 

 other species of the family, are common in the northern parts 

 of both hemispheres. When our Colonial foremothers began 

 to make Devonshire and other cheeses after the English style, 

 they had as an ally the flowers of the white cleavers, which 

 belong to the same genus as the yellow-flowered variety they 

 had formerly used in the home land. 



Homer tells us that when Ulysses and his meddlesome 

 sailors made their unfortunate landing on the isle of the 

 Cyclops, they found a number of large cheeses. These the 

 giants had made with the aid of another species of cleavers to 

 coagulate the milk. Our Pilgrim ancestors were delighted to 

 find that the roots of a smaller white cleavers {G. trifidmn) 

 dyed red as had G. veruni in Holland and the British Isles. 

 The Indians also knew the value of these roots for dyeing a 

 permanent red and dyed with it their porcupine quills and the 

 fringe of fawn skins for their ceremonial robes. 



The leaves of G. aparine were used by the Indians and 

 by the old-fashioned (eclectic) school of medicine as a remedy 

 for disorders of the kidneys and bladder. The leaves of 

 G. circaezans have a sweet taste, like licorice, and were mixed 

 with Icjbelia ( Indian tobacco) and smoked, just as licorice has 

 for years been used to flavor the tobacco of commerce. 



The more or less rough and angled stems lean on other 

 plants, such as the elder, the low wild roses, and even scouring 

 rushes and meadow grasses. The plants derive their name 

 from closely adhering by their hooked prickles, not unpleas- 

 antly, to everything in their way. Cleaver flowers are minute, 

 white, numerous, and honey-sweet. They are pollinated by 

 many small bees and flies. Ants, which are sometimes numer- 

 ous in its habitat, find the route to its honey-pot a thorny path 

 indeed ! 



