Galium aparine

Goose grass, Goose Grass

Family: Rubiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Goose grass is a California native annual herb found in grassy and partially shaded habitats throughout the state at elevations of 30 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces small, rotating white flowers on delicate branching stems. Growing with weak, climbing or prostrate stems up to 9 decimeters long, it spreads by clinging to surrounding vegetation with tiny hooked prickles. Its leaves grow in whorls of 6 to 8, with lower leaves nearly round and petioled while upper leaves are narrowly oblanceolate and sessile. The plant produces small nutlets covered in short, hooked hairs that aid in its dispersal.

Habitat: Grassy, +- shady places

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: 30-1500 m

Bioregions: CA (exc DSon)

California counties: Humboldt, Placer, Santa Barbara, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Tulare, Ventura, Los Angeles, Napa, San Bernardino, Kern, Orange, Solano, Lake, Riverside, Madera, Butte, Modoc, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Mariposa, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Monterey, Lassen, San Benito, Shasta, Tuolumne, San Mateo, Plumas, Stanislaus, Marin, Siskiyou, Del Norte, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Alameda, Yolo, El Dorado, Sutter, Amador, Calaveras, Sierra, Colusa, Inyo, Nevada, San Joaquin, Mono, Sacramento, Tehama, Glenn, Merced, Trinity, Alpine, Yuba

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.