Galium boreale (Northern Bedstaw) - photos and description



Ovary is hairy - first question in the key to genus Galium in Budd's Flora

General: Upright plants, rhizomatous often forming large colonies. Stems four-angled, glabrous.

Flowers:  Inflorescence in panicles, flowers white, four petals, I measured flowers to 4 mm in diameter.

Leaves:  Leaves all cauline, linear, in whorls of 4, edges rolled downward. I measured a leaf at 3.5 cm long and 6 mm wide.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 50 cm. I measured plants to a height of 50 cm.

Habitat: Moist prairie, meadows, and open aspen woods.

Abundance: Common.

Origin: Native.

When and where photographed: Photos taken June 30th on the slopes of the Qu'Appelle Valley 30 km north of Regina, SK, and July 8th in a moist meadow in Douglas Provincial Park, about 200 km north west of our home in Regina, SK.