Galium boreale

Northern bedstraw

Family: Rubiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Northern bedstraw is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, central Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in wet places and disturbed roadsides at elevations of 15 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white, rotate flowers in terminal panicles with many small blossoms. Growing with erect stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall that are nearly glabrous to slightly hairy, it forms distinctive vegetative clusters. Its leaves grow in whorls of 4, linear to widely lanceolate, 13 to 31 millimeters long with leathery texture and margins rolled underneath. The fruit develops as small nutlets with short, upcurved hairs that add texture to the plant's delicate structure.

Habitat: Wet places or disturbed roadsides

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 15-2000 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, c SNH, MP

California counties: Siskiyou, Del Norte, Plumas, Lassen, Mariposa

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