Galium grayanum

Gray's bedstraw

Family: Rubiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Gray's bedstraw is a California native perennial herb found in rocky, open areas with scattered distributions across western mountain ranges at elevations of 2.5 to 27 centimeters. Flowering from late spring to summer, this plant produces small rotate flowers in subtle yellow to reddish tones, arranged on narrow, leafy inflorescences. Growing as a tufted or matted plant with densely hairy stems, it forms compact ground-hugging clusters. Its leaves grow in distinctive whorls of 4, measuring 4 to 17 millimeters long, with widely ovate to round shapes and obtuse to acuminate tips. The plant produces nutlets with long, straight brown hairs, giving it a distinctive textured appearance.

California counties: Plumas, Butte, Trinity, Colusa, Lake, Lassen, Nevada, Shasta, Placer, Tehama, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Glenn, Sierra

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