• NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems
  • Biorepository Data Portal

  • Home
  • Search
    • Sample search
    • Map search
    • Dynamic Species List
    • Taxonomic Explorer
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Image Search
  • Datasets
    • Research Datasets and Special Collections
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Invertebrates
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Plants
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Vertebrates
  • Sample Use
    • Sample Use Policy
    • Sample Request
    • Sample Archival Request
    • Data Usage Policy
  • Additional Information
    • Tutorials and Help
    • About NEON
    • NEON Data Portal
    • ASU Biocollections
    • About Symbiota
  • Getting Started
Login New Account Sitemap
Galium tinctorium L.  

No occurrences found

Family: Rubiaceae
stiff marsh bedstraw
[Galium claytonii Michx., moreGalium obtusum var. floridanum (Wiegand) Fernald, Galium tinctorium subsp. floridanum (Wiegand) Puff, Galium tinctorium var. diversifolium W.Wight, Galium tinctorium var. floridanum Wiegand, Galium trifidum subsp. tinctorium (L.) H.Hara, Galium trifidum var. tinctorium (L.) Torr. & A.Gray]
Galium tinctorium image
Morton Arboretum
  • vPlants
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Resources
The Morton Arboretum
Perennial herb with a creeping rhizome 20 cm - 0.5 m tall Leaves: in whorls of four to six, 5 mm - 2 cm long, linear to narrowly elliptic with a blunt tip, one-veined, often roughly hairy along the margins and sometimes on the midrib beneath. Flowers: mostly in two's or three's, on 2 - 4 mm long straight stalks, whitish, 1 - 1.5 mm wide, more or less flat and circular in outline, with three short, blunt lobes. Stamens four, shorter than corolla. Styles two, short. Fruit: dry, indehiscent, 1 - 2 mm long, spherical, paired, separating when ripe, one-seeded. Stems: numerous, weak, often scrambling over other plants, slender, four-angled, often much branched, roughly hairy on the angles or essentially hairless.

Similar species: No information at this time.

Flowering: late June to early October

Habitat and ecology: Woods, marshes, roadside ditches, and other wet areas.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Galium comes from the Greek word gala, meaning milk, referring to the plants that are used to curdle milk. Tinctorium means "used for dyeing."

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Very much like G. trifidum, of which it is often considered to be a var. or ssp., but said to be distinct in the field; differing as indicated in the key; pedicels consistently glabrous. Moist or swampy places, usually in circumneutral or somewhat alkaline soils; Nf. to Fla. and Hispaniola, w. to Minn., Mo., Tex., and Mex. Most plants of our range belong to the var. tinctorium, with the mericarps 2-3 mm and the pedicels rarely over 5 mm. The chiefly more southern var. floridanum Wiegand extends n. to the s. fringe of our range and along the coast to Mass.; it is more robust, with the mericarps 3-4 mm, and pedicels commonly 5-8 mm in fr.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Galium tinctorium
Open Interactive Map
Galium tinctorium image
Click to Display
2 Total Images
NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.