CLEAVERS 



201 



It is called Stick-a-back because of its hooked fruits. Children 

 placed stems upon each other's backs with the fruits hanging on them. 

 Goose Grass was conferred as a name because it was used as food for 

 young geese. The fruits are called Beggar's Lice. In regard to the 

 name Blind Tongue, Wilkinson writes: "Children with the leaves 

 practise Phlebotomy upon the tongue of those playmates who are 

 simple enough to endure 

 it." The name Catch- 

 rogue was given because it 

 generally grows in hedges, 

 and adheres to the clothes 

 of those who attempt to 

 break through. Cleavers, 

 Clever, Grip -grass refer 

 to its cleaving or clinging 

 habit. Goosebill was given 

 because the leaves have 

 coarsely-toothed margins, 

 like a goose's bill. Harif 

 is from the French keriffe, 

 standing up like bristles. 



Galium is from the 

 Greek^Wtf, meaning milk, 

 and is applied to the genus 

 because another species 

 is used in curdling milk. 

 The second name is the 

 Greek word for the plant, 

 probably from apairo, lay 

 hold of. 



The fruits are given to 



poultry, and both cattle and horses eat it. In Sweden the fruits are 

 used for coffee. Dioscorides tells us that the stems were used as a 

 sieve, and the same use is applied to them in Sweden to-day. An oint- 

 ment for scalds and burns has been made from it. Being astringent, it 

 has also been used for colds and swellings. A kind of beer is made 

 from it in some districts. It is a blood-purifier, and young shoots are 

 used in spring to make a broth. The juice was used for scorbutic 

 complaints. A red dye is prepared from the roots. The juice has also 

 been used for earache and for bites from poisonous snakes and spiders. 

 Gravel was said to be cured by the use of a strong dose of it. 



CLEAVERS (Galium Aparine, L.) 



