Rubiaceae

Rubiaceae – Madder (Bedstraw) Family 

 

The Rubiaceae, or Coffee, Madder, and Bedstraw Family consists of trees, shrubs, vines and herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with stipules growing between petioles. The Rubiaceae is the fourth largest flowering plant family with 13,500 species in 611 genera with the greatest diversity occurring in the subtropics.[1] However, at least 20 genera occur in North America and one genus, Galium, occurring in the West Eugene Wetlands.[2] [3] These annual herbaceous vines cling to adjacent plants or clothing with their whorls of bristly oblong to linear leaves. In addition to the caffeine found in coffee, the Rubiaceae also produces quinine, the alkaloid valued for anti-malarial properties.[4] Throughout human history, different types of Madder have been used worldwide for ethnobotanical purposes. Pacific Northwestern peoples used different Galiums to remove pine sap from hands, as perfume, or a hair rinse.[5] The Latin word Galium, is even derived from the Greek word for milk “gala” because it was so common to use these herbaceous vines to straining fresh milk in Europe.[6]

 

Galium trifidum var. pacificum – Small Bedstraw

GAAP.jpgSpecies Code: GATR

Habit: Perennial herbaceous forb from slender, spreading rhizomes, this vine-like plant can be erect or prostrate, but also commonly found growing over adjacent vegetation.[7]

Leaves: 4 to 6 dainty, linear leaves are arranged in whorls around squarish stems[8]. Leaves are attached directly to the stem (sessile), have blunt or rounded tips ranging, and range from 5 to 20 mm long. Galium often sticks to passing legs or animals because leaf margins are armed with many, tiny, hooked barbs.[9]

Flowers: Flowers are tiny, with four white petals and four green sepals. 1 to 3 flowers are arranged in groups of 1 to 3 on short peduncles.

Fruits: Rounded, tiny seeds are 1 to 1.75 mm thick. Smooth and waxy fruits lack hooked bristles.

Ecology: Facultative Wetland Species (FACW), a hydrophyte that occurs mostly in sites that are wet in spring but dry by late summer and tolerates dryer areas.[10]

Notes: May be confused with Fragrant bedstraw (Galium aparine), which is relatively much larger in size and an annual, or wall bedstraw (Galiums parisiense), an introduced l with whorls of six leaves with pointed tips.[11]

 

Galium aparine

 

 

 

 

[1] Simpson, M. Plant Systematics 2nd ed. Academic Press, Burlington, MA. 2010. 397

[2] Bruce Newhouse, notes

[3] Elpel, T. J., Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. HOPS Press, 2004. 139.

[4] Elpel, T. J., Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. HOPS Press, 2004.

[5] Pojar, J., Mackinnon, A., Editors Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, Canada. 2004. 330.

[6] Pojar, J., Mackinnon, A., Editors Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, Canada. 2004. 330.

[7] Pojar, J., Mackinnon, A., Editors Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, Canada. 2004. 331.

[8] Guard, J. (1995). Wetland Plants of Oregon and Washington. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta.

[9] Guard, J. (1995). Wetland Plants of Oregon and Washington. Lone Pine Publishing, Edmonton, Alberta.

[10] USDA Plants Database: <https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=GATR&gt;

[11] City of Eugene, Parks Seed Collection Manual, Galium trifidum, 2009.