Galium

Galium BEDSTRAW

Higher Taxonomy

Family: Rubiaceae

Common Name: MADDER FAMILY
Habit: Annual to tree, vine. Leaf: generally opposite (whorled), entire; stipules generally fused to stem, adjacent pairs occasionally fused, or occasionally leaf-like and appearing like whorled leaves. Inflorescence: cyme, panicle, spike, cluster, or flower 1, generally terminal and +- axillary. Flower: generally bisexual; calyx +- 4(5)-lobed, occasionally 0 (Galium, Crucianella) or 6 (Sherardia); corolla generally radial, 4(5)-lobed; stamens epipetalous, alternate corolla lobes, generally included; ovary generally inferior, chambers generally 2 or 4, style 1(2). Fruit: drupe, berry, or 2 or 4 nutlets [capsule].
Genera In Family: +- 500 genera, 6000 species: worldwide, especially tropics; many cultivated, including Coffea, coffee; Cinchona, quinine; many ornamental. Note: Diodia teres Walter doubtfully in California.
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Lauramay T. Dempster, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Galium

Habit: Annual, perennial herb, occasionally subshrub, glabrous to hairy, generally scabrous; dioecious, bisexual, or flowers unisexual and bisexual. Stem: 4-angled, occasionally ridged lengthwise. Leaf: generally in whorls of >= 4, including leaf-like stipules. Inflorescence: panicles, axillary clusters (cymes), or occasionally 1 in axils. Flower: bisexual, or unisexual with sterile stamens or pistils; calyx 0; corolla generally rotate, occasionally +- bell-shaped, generally +- green, yellow to white, occasionally pink or red, lobes generally 4; ovary 2-lobed, styles 2, bases +- fused. Fruit: 2 nutlets or berry.
Species In Genus: +- 650 species: worldwide, especially temperate. Etymology: (Greek: milk, from use of some species for curdling) Note: Ovary and fruit generally +- equally hairy on a pl; staminate plants generally identified by vestigial ovaries, pistillate plants generally by vestigial anthers. Galium saxatile L., Galium schultesii Vest, and Galium verum L. are lawn weeds in California.
Jepson eFlora Author: Valerie Soza
Reference: Dempster 1978 Univ Calif Publ Bot 73:1--33; Soza & Olmstead 2010 Amer J Bot 97:1630--1646
Unabridged Reference: Dempster 1973 Univ Calif Publ Bot 64:1--36; Dempster & Ehrendorfer 1965 Brittonia 17:289--334; Dempster & Stebbins 1968 Univ Calif Publ Bot 46:1--52; Dempster & Stebbins 1971 Madroño 21:71--95
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Key to Galium

Previous taxon: Diodia teres
Next taxon: Galium ambiguum

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Citation for this treatment: Valerie Soza 2012, Galium, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11284, accessed on April 25, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 25, 2024.