Dye Bedstraw (Galium tinctorium)
- Family: Madder (Rubiaceae)
- Flowering: May-September.
- Field Marks: This is the only slender-leaved bedstraw that has leaves in whorls of 5 or 6, often on the same plant.
- Habitat: Swamps, wet meadows, wet woods, roadside ditches.
- Habit: Perennial herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Spreading, often matted, much branched, somewhat rough to the touch, up to 1 1/2 feet long.
- Leaves: Simple, in whorls of 5 or 6, linear to oblanceolate, rounded at the tip, tapering to the base, smooth except on the veins and the margin, up to 1 inch long.
- Flowers: White, often in clusters of 3, with many clusters at the ends of the branches.
- Sepals: Reduced to a small green cup without lobes.
- Petals: 3-4, rarely 5, white, united below.
- Stamens: 3-4, rarely 5.
- Pistils: Ovary inferior.
- Fruits: Borne in pairs, smooth, black at maturity, about 1/16 inch in diameter.
Previous Species -- Bluntleaf Bedstraw (Galium obtusum)
Return to Species List -- Group 7
Next Species -- Small Bedstraw (Galium trifidum)