It favors moderately moist, rich loam soils, but is found on a wide variety 

 of dry to moist soils. 



This species is common and often forms an appreciable part of the plant 

 cover, although not occurring in pure stands. It is practically worthless as 

 forage for cattle and horses, and is only fair forage for sheep and goats 

 which generally crop only the flowers and leaves. It is one of the species 

 that is likely to increase on ranges which are somewhat overgrazed. 



This species grows from perennial rootstocks normally producing numerous, 

 leafy, sterile shoots as well as a number of flowering stems. The leaves 

 ,-ippear to be in whorls of four, but actually are in pairs (opposite), each pair 

 being accompanied by two bracts (stipules) which are similar to the leaves. 

 Northern bedstraw forms attractive and conspicuous white bunches when in 

 full bloom and is sometimes grown as an ornamental, especially in rock gardens. 



BEDSTRAWS 



Ga'lium spp. 



The bedstraws, which belong to the very large madder family (Rubiaceae), 

 compose a genus of anual or perennial herbs or woody perennials widely 

 distributed throughout temperate regions. The majority of the madder family, 

 including all the more important economic genera, such as coffee (Coffea spp.) 

 and the Peruvian-bark trees (Cinchona spp.) from which quinine is obtained, 

 are tropical trees, shrubs, and vines. Some authorities state that the generic 

 name Galium is derived from the Greek gallon, bedstraw; others claim that 

 the word f/alium is derived from the Greek word for milk, gala, since certain 

 species were used to curdle milk. Bedstraw is probably the most common 

 name for species of Galium, but some species are known as cleavers (from 

 cleave, to adhere closely ) . 



Approximately 43 species and 9 varieties of bedstraw are indigenous in the 

 West, about 9 species being undershrubby or shrubby, the rest often weak 

 and trailing herbs. 1 In addition, several herbaceous species have been natural- 

 ized from the Old World. Bedstraws occur on a wide variety of soils and 

 in practically all types from the lower elevations to above timberline, but 

 probably are most common in grass, weed, and brush types. These plants, 

 especially the smaller herbaceous species, are very common and make up an 

 appreciable part of the plant cover on many western ranges, although they 

 do not, as a rule, occur in dense stands to the exclusion of other plants. 



The shrubby species of bedstraws usually have coarse, woody stems, small, 

 thick, often pricklelike leaves, and are practically worthless as forage plants. 

 Although the palatability varies with the different species and regions, the 

 herbaceous species, in general, are of fair palatability to sheep and goats and 

 of low to zero palatability to cattle and horses. Bedstraws like many of the 

 relatively unpalatable range plants tend to increase, to a certain extent, on 

 overgrazed ranges. 



Several species of bedstraws were formerly used as medicinal plants. Goose- 

 grass bedstraw (G. aparine), an annual common in North America, Europe, and 

 Asia, and usually called goosegrass from its use as food for geese, was probably 

 the most generally used in medicine. The roots of dye bedstraw (G. tinc- 

 torium) were used by the Indians in the preparation of red and yellow dyes. 

 The roots of white bedstraw (G. mollugo') yield a purple dye. 



The bedstraws all have four-angled (square) stems apparently with whorls 

 of four to eight (sometimes only two) leaves at the joints. Actually the 

 leaves are in pairs (opposite) or in whorls of threes or fours, accompanied by 

 two, three, or four bracts (stipules) which are similar to the leaves. The 

 flowers are small, usually less than one-fourth of an inch wide, white or 

 greenish-white, yellowish, or purplish. Outer flower parts (sepals) are lacking 

 and the corolla is wheel-shaped, consisting usually of four spreading lobes. The 

 stems and fruits of many species are beset with hooked hairs. Some species 

 are "dioecious", i. e., the male (pollen-producing) and female (seed-producing) 

 flowers are borne on separate plants ; or male, female, and perfect flowers may 

 occur on the same plant. 



1 Dayton, W. A. IMPORTANT WESTERN BROWSE PLANTS. U. S. Dent. Agr. Misc. Pub. 

 101, 214 pp., illus. 1931. 



