A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Galium aparine
Growth habit is vine like sprawling over the ground and other plants, reaching heights of 4'-5', occasionally 6'-7'. The leaves are simple and borne in whorls of six to eight. Both leaves and stem have fine hairs tipped with tiny hooks, making them cling to clothes and fur much like velcro. The white to greenish flowers are 2-3 mm across, with four petals. It flowers in early spring to summer, with the flowers occurring in most of the leaf nodes. The fruits are clustered 1-3 seeds together; each seed is 4-6 mm diameter, and is also covered with hooked hairs which cling to animal fur, aiding in seed dispersal.
Galium aparine is widely distributed in North America. It occurs in every U.S. state except Hawaii. It is a common weed in hedges and other low shrubby vegetation, and is also a common weed in arable fields, as well as gardens. Also in woody areas with accompanying brush growth. As they grow quite rampantly and thickly, they end up shading out any small plants that they overrun.
Can be invasive. Edible.
Spotted on May 23, 2012
Submitted on May 24, 2012
1 Comment
these are a pain in the neck, arms, and legs. LOL, reccomendation, not to pull them out with shorts and short sleeves on, and always wear gloves. They have been quite prolific over the past couple of years here in Western NY. I am not certain about other areas, however, I spend more time rooting these out of the gardens than any other weed.