Galium sylvaticum, commonly known as Scotch mist or wood bedstraw, is a plant species of the genus Rubiaceae. Its genus name, Galium, is derived from the Greek word for "milk," apparently because some species have been used to curdle milk.[1]

Galium sylvaticum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Galium
Species:
G. sylvaticum
Binomial name
Galium sylvaticum

It is native to central Europe: France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary,[2] the former Yugoslavia and smaller countries in between.[3][4] It is also naturalized in scattered locations in North America (Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Ontario, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon).[5] It is often found in anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed) habitats, forest edges, meadows and fields.[1]

It is a perennial, branching herb with thin stems. Its leaves are in whorls of six, each narrowly linear. Flowers are in open terminal panicles, white and four-petaled.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Galium sylvaticum (wood bedstraw)". Go Botany. New England Wildflower Society. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  2. ^ Hooker, Sir J.D. (1881). Britten, James (ed.). "Extracts and Notices of Books and Memoirs". Trimen's Journal of Botany: British and Foreign. 19. London: West, Newman & Co.: 60. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Galium sylvaticum". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  4. ^ a b Altervista Flora Italiana
  5. ^ "Galium sylvaticum". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
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