Galium mollugo L.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Galium mollugo L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Perennial 3–12 dm, the numerous weak stems usually ± erect from a decumbent base, glabrous or shortly spreading-hairy below; short, slender, leafy perennial offshoots produced in summer or fall; lvs in 6’s or 8’s, antrorsely scabro-ciliate, otherwise glabrous, linear-oblong to oblanceolate, mostly 1–2.5 cm and broadest above the middle, 1-nerved, cuspidate, concolorous; fls numerous in terminal, often divaricately branched, rather showy cymose panicles, the cor white or nearly so, 2–5 mm wide; fr glabrous, 1–1.5 mm; 2n=22, 44, 66, 88. A Eurasian weed, now well established in our range. The typical phase has the cor 2–3 mm wide, the pedicels usually longer than the width of the fls, and lax infls with the branches strongly divaricate after anthesis. The var. erectum (Huds.) Domin (G. album Mill.) has the cor 3–5 mm wide, the pedicels usually shorter than the width of the fls, and rather dense infl with less divaricate branches. Both are reported in our range.