Plant · P-947

Northern Bedstraw

Galium boreale

Northern Bedstraw is a rhizomatous perennial herb that forms spreading colonies of small white flowers, valued as a groundcover and historically as a source of red root dye and a tea made from the dried flowering stems. Circumboreal in range, it grows wild across northern Eurasia and much of Canada and the northern United States in moist, sometimes rocky open woods, meadows and streamsides. It tolerates partial sun to shade - its leaves scorch in strong sun - and spreads readily by both seed and creeping rhizome once established.