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Common Marsh-bedstraw

Galium palustre

Also called Marsh-bedstraw

Common Marsh-bedstraw
Photo: Kristian Peters -- Fabelfroh 08:10, 20 September 2006 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0
Family
Rubiaceae (Coffee family)
Grows as
Annual
Water
Likes moisture
Native range
Azores, NW. Africa, Europe to Siberia, Greenland to Maryland
Climate
temperate

About

Galium palustre, the common marsh bedstraw or simply marsh-bedstraw, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae. This plant is widely distributed, native to virtually every country in Europe, plus Morocco, the Azores, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Western Siberia, Greenland, eastern Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and parts of the United States (primarily the Michigan and the Northeast, but with isolated populations in Tennessee, Montana, Washington and Oregon). The species is classified as a noxious weed in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. It is considered naturalized in Kamchatka, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.

Where it grows

In Britain, Galium palustre is part of the British NVC Community M23 (Juncus effusus/acutiflorus – Galium palustre rush-pasture). It is a component of Purple moor grass and rush pastures - a type of Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the UK. It occurs on poorly drained neutral and acidic soils of the lowlands and upland fringe. It is found in the South West of England, especially in Devon.

Other Galium plants

Mount Aetna Bedstraw · White bedstraw · Phloxleaf bedstraw · Narrowleaf bedstraw · Alpine Bedstraw · Galium antarcticum · Stickywilly · Sand Bedstraw · Argus bedstraw · Awned bedstraw · Arkansas bedstraw · Rough bedstraw

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Galium palustre by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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.

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