Bedstraws and Wild Licorice (Galium)

Group I. Plants Annual from a short taproot.

.......... main lvs in 6's in 8's
.......... (23.parisiense) greenish-white fls; lvs in whorls of 5-8, often 6; fields & roadsides; Eurp, introduced as a weed in s part of our range cleavers (22.aparine) greenish-white fls; lvs in whorls of 8(6); fr uncinate-hispid or rarely smooth; damp ground, us in shade; throughout

Groups II, III, IV, & V. Plants perennial from creeping rhizomes.

Group II. Fruit a colored berry.

berry b.s. (18. hispidulum) sandy soil, esp. pine-land on the coastal plain; s NJ to LA

Group III & IV. Fruit smooth to granular, verrucose, or muricate, but without hairs or bristles.

Group III. Stems erect or nearly so.

......... whorls of 4 whorls of 5
white fls northern b.s. (1. boreale) wide variety of not too dry habitats; s to DE (3.glaucum) lvs linear; Eurasian intro; N. Eng. to NJ

wild madder (4.mollugo) lvs broadest above the middle; Eurasian weed, now well established

scotch mist (5.sylvaticum) lvs broadest at or below the middle; roadsides & in thickets; Eup occ intro; N. Eng & NY
yellow fls ..... yellow b.s. (6. verum) Eurasian weed of roadsides & fields; esp. northward
purple fls wide-leaved b.s. (2. latifolium) dry woods in the mtns; PA to GA .....

Group IV. Stems weak and more or less matted, ascending or reclining or scrambling.

..... 2-6 4 4 or 5 4 or 6
  ..... ..... rough b.s. (7.asprellum) wet woods & thickets; s to NC shining b.s. (8.concinnum) dry woods; NJ to TN
cor mostly 4-lobed, lobes longer than wide marsh b.s. (9.palustgre) wet soil; NF to CN & NJ bluntleaf b.s. (10.obtusum) swampy thickets & moist meadows; NS to FL

Labrador b.s. (11.labradoricum) cold bogs, swamps & wet thickets; NF to MA, NY, NJ

 ..... .....
cor mostly 3-lobed, the lobes about as wide as or wider than long ..... small b.s. (12.trifidum) moist places at various altitudes; s to NY & PA ..... Clayton's b.s. (13.tinctorium) moist or swampy places, us. in somewhat alkaline soil; s to FL

Group V. Fruits bristly or hairy.

..... main lvs in 4's ..... main lvs in 6's main lvs in 8's
..... lanceolate oval or elliptic ..... .....
A. fls, or some, sessile or subsessile along the side of the inflorescence ..... ..... ..... .....
yellow, turning purple in age yellow wild licorice (15.lanceolatum) dry woods & thickets; s to NC ..... ..... .....
greenish-purple ..... forest b.s. (14.circaezans) lvs obtuse; dry woods & thickets; ME to FL ..... .....
B. Fls all pediceled, terminating the branches of the infl ..... ..... ..... .....
white fls northern b.s. (1.boreale) wide variety of not too dry habitats; s to DE ..... ..... sweet woodruff (21.odoratum) cor funnelform; woods; Eurp, sparingly intro
greenish-white ..... (16.pilosum) greenish-white to purple; dry woods fragrant b.s. (20.triflorum) woods; s to FL .....

Kalm. 7/6/1749. The Galium tinctorium is called Tisavojaune rouge by the French throughout all Canada, and abounds in the woods round this place, growing in a moist but fine soil. The roots of this plant are employed by the Indians in dying the quills of the American porcupines red, which they put into several pieces of their work; and air, sun or water seldom change this color. The French women in Canada sometimes dye their clothes red with these roots, which are small, like those of the Galium luteum, or yellow bedstraw. P 380.