Galium circaezans Michx.

• 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 circaezans Michx.

• Description

  Species Description - Erect or ascending perennial 2–6 dm, simple or branched from the base, the stems ± pubescent; lvs in 4’s, oval, elliptic, or ovate-oblong, broadest near the middle, 2–5 × 1–2.5 cm, obtuse, 3–5-nerved; infls terminal and from the upper axils, simple or with 1 or 2 divaricate forks, the fls remote, sessile or subsessile; cor greenish-purple, pilose, the lobes acute; fr reflexed, uncinate-hispid, 3 mm; often only one carpel fully developed, the other maturing into a small elaiosome; 2n=22. Dry woods and thickets; Me. to n. Mich. and Minn., s. to Fla., Kans., and Tex. June, July. Northern plants, with ± densely hairy lvs, have been segregated as var. hypomalacum Fernald; they pass freely into the chiefly more southern var. circaezans, with more thinly hairy or glabrous lvs.

• Common Names

  forest-bedstraw, wild licorice