Galium stellatum

Starry bedstraw

Family: Rubiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Starry bedstraw is a California native shrub found in desert regions on rocky slopes at elevations of 130 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces small, nearly white flowers in leafy axillary panicles. Growing with stout, many-branched stems 30 to 90 centimeters tall that are brittle and scabrous, it forms an erect and spreading growth habit. Its leaves grow in whorls of four, typically 4 to 8 millimeters long, with narrow lanceolate to needle-like shapes in a distinctive gray-green color and sharp-tipped texture. The fruit consists of small nutlets covered in dense, long white hairs that give the plant an intriguing, star-like appearance.

Habitat: Rocky slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: 130-1600 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: Riverside, Inyo, San Bernardino, Kern, San Diego, Imperial, Los Angeles

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