Galium album

Galium album, the white bedstraw or hedge bedstraw, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae.[3][4]

White bedstraw
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Galium
Species:
G. album
Binomial name
Galium album
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Galium mollugo subsp. album (Mill.) Tzvelev
  • Galium album var. praticola (Heinr.Braun) Michalk.
  • Galium erectum Huds.
  • Galium mixtum Stransky
  • Galium woonasquatucketensis E.J.Whalen
  • Galium mollugo subsp. erectum Syme
  • Galium mollugo var. mixtum (Stransky) Stoj. & Stef.
  • Galium mollugo var. nevadense Lange
  • Galium mollugo var. praticola Heinr.Braun
  • Galium sphenophyllum Klokov
  • Galium sylvestre Scop.

Description

The stems can grow to at least 150 cm and are more or less erect with ascending branches. The stem is square in section with slight flanges. The plant is relatively hairless with shiny leaves and stem. Flowers are white or yellowish.[5] The fruit are hairless.[6][7]

Habitat and distribution

Galium album is widespread over much of Europe, being native to a large region from Britain to Morocco, east to Turkey and Western Siberia. It is naturalized in Ireland, Scandinavia, Greenland and South Australia.[1] It is found in pastures, grassy banks, etc., especially on dry calcareous soils. In Britain, G. album is local in lowland England, rare in the north and very rare in Scotland.[5]

Subspecies

Four subspecies are currently (May 2014) recognized:[1]

References
  1. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. The Plant List
  3. Miller, Philip. 1768. Gardeners Dictionary, Edition 8. London, n. 7
  4. Ehrendorfer, Friedrich & Krendl, Franz Xaver. 1974. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 68(4): 270
  5. Clapham, A. R., Tutin, T. G. and Warburg, E. F. (1987). Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23290-2. p. 302.
  6. Hennedy, Roger (1891). The Clydesdale Flora. Glasgow: Hugh Hopkins. p. 97.
  7. Michalková, Eleonóra. 1993. Biología, Bot. (Bratislava) 48(1): 48
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