# white bedstraw

*Galium album*

Its common name arises from the medieval practice of stuffing mattresses with the dried herb; its coumarin content releases a pleasant, flea-repelling scent of fresh hay.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Gentianales › Rubiaceae › Galium
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Dry grasslands, meadows, pastures, hedge banks, and roadsides.
- **Diet:** Autotrophic (Photosynthesis)
- **Range:** Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, North America
- **Size:** Stems 30 to 100 cm in length, forming loose, scrambling clumps.
- **Lifespan:** Perennial (typically 3-5 years, regenerating from rhizomes)
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Intensive agricultural practices, herbicide application, and frequent mowing before seed dispersal.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. White bedstraw is entirely safe to touch and observe up close. If foraging, ensure the area has not been treated with chemical herbicides.

## About

Galium album , the white bedstraw or hedge bedstraw , is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/8f7f1192-e46a-4bc1-9565-1789aa2005a2
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/163166
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium album
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/73888022/medium.jpg (Stefan.lefnaer, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.