Small Bedstraw (Galium trifidum)
- Family: Madder (Rubiaceae)
- Flowering: May-July.
- Field Marks: The leaves of this bedstraw are in whorls of 4, the stems and leaves are rough to the touch, the flowers usually have 3 petals, and the fruits are smooth.
- Habitat: Swamps, wet meadows, wet prairies, roadside ditches.
- Habit: Perennial herb, often forming mats.
- Stems: Much branched, spreading or ascending, rough to the touch, up to 4 feet long.
- Leaves: In whorls of 4, simple, linear or narrowly elliptic, rounded at the tip, tapering to the base, rough on the margins and on the veins, up to 3/4 inch long.
- Flowers: White, several, born in cymes, on long, slender stalks; each flower up to 1/12 inch across.
- Sepals: Not divided into distinct segments.
- Petals: 3, white, united below.
- Stamens: Usually 3.
- Pistils: Ovary inferior, smooth.
- Fruits: Borne in pairs, spherical, smooth, up to 1/10 inch in diameter.
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