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Cruciata laevipes
Also called Crosswort, Luc na croise, Maywort
Cruciata laevipes is a sprawling perennial herb in the coffee family, native across much of Europe and into Iran and the Himalaya, found in meadows, verges and open woodland. It is grown mainly as a wildflower and is easy to establish in well-drained, lime-rich soil.
Cruciata laevipes is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is commonly known as crosswort, smooth bedstraw or Luc na croise in Gaelic. The Latin epithet laevipes refers to the smooth stalk.
The common name crosswort is a 16th century translation of the botanists' Latin cruciata planta, meaning "cross plant", i.e., with leaves in a cross-like arrangement.
Cruciata laevipes is found in most of Europe as well as from northern Turkey, Iran, the Caucasus, and the western Himalayas. It is also reportedly naturalized in Ontario County in New York State. Cruciata laevipes is found in meadows, road verges, riverbanks, scrub and open woodland, generally on well-drained calcareous soils.
Cruciata laevipes is little used in herbal medicine today, but it was once recommended as a remedy for rupture, rheumatism and dropsy. Bald's Leechbook recommended crosswort as a cure for headaches.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cruciata laevipes by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
