Cleavers Galium aparine

Features

Galium aparine with many common names including cleavers, clivers, bedstraw, goosegrass, catchweed, stickyweed, sticky bob, stickybud, stickyback, robin-run-the-hedge, sticky willy, sticky willow, stickyjack, stickeljack, grip grass, sticky grass, bobby buttons, and velcro plant, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae.

Species	Annuals (Therophyta)
Living space	Field, Meadow, River edge
Size	up to 150 cm

Description

The branched stem has a square cross section. The edges of the stem are overgrown with downward-facing hairs that make it stick to other plants as well as clothes. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, wider towards the top and narrowed at the base. They grow from one knee, 6-8 leaves on each knee. The flower is small and whitish in color with four petals. There are 4 flowers on one stalk and usually three flowers on the upper stalk. It is an edible plant whose leaves and tops can be cooked similarly to spinach before the fruit appears. Because of the gripping hooks, it is not usually eaten raw, although in principle it could be. The seeds have been dried and roasted in the past and used in a similar way to coffee, as the plants are from the same family. Tea or tincture is used for problems with the lymphatic system, inflammation of the lymph nodes, tonsillitis and jaundice, and externally also for dry skin and psoriasis. Because it acts as a diuretic, it helps with bladder inflammation and other urinary problems. It is also used to treat ulcers and swellings caused by water retention in the body.