View source for Lady's Bedstraw

{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = ''Galium verum''
| image = Galium verum01.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = Lady's Bedstraw in flower
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Gentianales]]
| familia = [[Rubiaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Galium]]''
| species = '''''G. verum'''''
| binomial = ''Galium verum''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}

'''''Galium verum''''' ('''Lady's Bedstraw''' or '''Yellow Bedstraw''') is a herbaceous [[annual plant]] of the family [[Rubiaceae]], native to [[Europe]] and [[Asia]]. It is a low scrambling plant, with the stems growing to 60-120 cm long, frequently rooting where they touch the ground. The [[leaf|leaves]] are 1-3 cm long and 2 mm broad, shiny dark green, hairy underneath, borne in whorls of 8-12. The [[flower]]s are 2-3 mm diameter, yellow, produced in dense clusters.

===Uses===
In the past the dried plants were used to stuff mattresses, the [[coumarin]] scent of the plants acting as a [[flea]] killer. The flowers were also used to coagulate [[milk]] in [[cheese]] manufacture and, in [[Gloucestershire]], to colour the cheese [[Double Gloucester]].<ref>Howard, Michael. ''Traditional Folk Remedies'', (Century, 1987); p163</ref> 
The plant is also used for dye giving a red [[madder]]-like colour and the stems and leaves give a wonderful yellow.

==Mythology==
[[Frigg]] was very much the goddess of married women, in [[Norse mythology]]. She helped women give birth to children, and as Scandinavians used the plant Lady's Bedstraw (''Galium verum'') as a sedative, they called it ''Frigg's grass''<ref>Schön, Ebbe. (2004). ''Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition''. Fält & Hässler, Värnamo. p. 228.</ref>.

==See also==

[[List of Lepidoptera which feed on Galium]]

==References and notes==
{{reflist}}

{{Commons|Galium verum}}

[[Category:Rubiaceae]]
[[Category:Flora of Europe]]
[[Category:Flora of Estonia]]
[[Category:Flora of the United Kingdom]]