Galium boreale L.
northern bedstraw
Rubiaceae (Madder family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
northern bedstraw
Rubiaceae (Madder family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
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Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a creeping rhizome; stems erect or ascending, many, simple or few-branched, short-bearded below the nodes, angled, smooth, 20-80 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves soon deciduous; stem leaves in whorls of 4, lanceolate to linear with rounded tips, 1.5-4.5 cm long, smooth or roughened below on the veins, 3-veined, often bearing axillary branches with smaller leaves, unstalked.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of numerous, stalked, terminal flowers on branchlets in the upper axils, the flowers both male and female on separate plants; corollas creamy-white, saucer-shaped, 3.5-7 mm wide, 4-lobed; calyces obsolete.
Fruits:
Nutlets, 2, 1.8-2.0 mm long, with numerous, short, straight or curled hairs or rarely smooth.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
White
Blooming Period:
Late Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source: The USDA
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Galium boreale
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
958 | 5 | 2408 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
16 | -2 | 262 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
198 | 0 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 8 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
4624 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
SBS | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(16), BAFA(6), BG(86), BWBS(719), CDF(1), CWH(29), ESSF(267), ICH(213), IDF(925), IMA(1), MH(1), MS(294), PP(75), SBPS(310), SBS(1337), SWB(94) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Moist to dry meadows, grasslands, shrublands, rocky slopes, open forests and shorelines from the lowland to upper subalpine zones; common throughout BC except absent on the Queen Charlotte Islands and the north coast; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to PQ, NS and NB and S to DE, OH, MO, TX and CA; Eurasia.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Galium boreale subsp. septentrionale (Roemer & J.A. Schultes) Hara
Galium boreale var. hyssopifolium (Hoffm.) DC.
Galium boreale var. intermedium DC.
Galium boreale var. linearifolium Rydb.
Galium boreale var. scabrum DC.
Galium boreale var. typicum G. Beck
Galium hyssopifolium Hoffm.
Galium septentrionale Roem. & Schult.
Galium strictum Torr.