Woodruff

Plant Characteristics

Habit		herbaceous
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun, shade
Features:	✓	fire resistant
USDA Zones:		on"on" is not a number. to on"on" is not a number.

Scientific Names

Rubiaceae >

Galium >

odoratum >

L. >

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Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and north Africa. It grows to 30-50 cm long, often lying flat on the ground or supported by other plants. The plant is also known in English as Sweet Woodruff or Wild Baby's Breath. "Master of the woods" is probably a translation of the German name Waldmeister. Names like "Sweetscented bedstraw", "Cudweed" and "Ladies' Bedstraw" should be avoided; the former two properly refer to Galium triflorum, the latter to Galium verum.

The leaves are simple, lanceolate, glabrous, 2-5 cm long, and borne in whorls of 6-9. The small (4-7 mm diameter) flowers are produced in cymes, each white with four petals joined together at the base. The seeds are 2-4 mm diameter, produced singly, and each seed is covered in tiny hooked bristles which help disperse the seed by sticking temporarily to clothing and animal fur.

This plant prefers partial to full shade in moist, rich soils. In dry summers it needs frequent irrigation. Propagation is by crown division, separation of the rooted stems, or digging up of the barely submerged perimeter stolons.

Read about Woodruff in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Asperula odorata, Linn. Sweet Woodruff. Habit erect or ascending: height 6-8 in.: Lvs. usually in whorls of 8, lanceolate, finely toothed or roughish at the margin: corollas campanulate: seeds rough. Eu. and Orient.— Increases rapidly, and is used for carpeting shady places, and for edgings. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Gallery

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  Detail of flowers

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  Woodruff – from Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885

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  photo 1

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  photo 2

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  photo 3

References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Woodruff. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Woodruff QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)