Galium parisiense

Wall bedstraw
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Genus: Galium
Species: G. parisiense
Binomial name
Galium parisiense
L.
Synonyms[1]
  • Galium anglicum Huds.
  • and a few dozen others

Galium parisiense is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae known by the common name wall bedstraw. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin of southern Europe and northern Africa, plus Turkey, Iran, and the islands of the eastern North Atlantic (Great Britain, Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde). The species is also naturalized in some parts of North America, mostly on the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada but also at scattered locales in the southeastern US from Texas to Maryland.[1][2][3][4]

Galium parisiense often grows in rocky habitats. In areas with significant human disturbance, it is a "wall specialist", easily taking hold in historic stone walls.[5] It is an annual herb producing lightly hairy, very thin, erect stems 15–25 centimetres (6–10 in) tall. The stem is ringed with whorls of six narrow leaves each a few millimetres long, often reflexed down toward the stem. It is topped with an open inflorescence of many clusters of tiny white or purplish-tinged flowers. The fruit is a nutlet usually coated in hooked hairs.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSPF), Galium parisiense
  2. ↑ Biota of North America Program (BONAP), Galium parisiense
  3. ↑ Biota of North America Program (BONAP), Galium anglicum, treated as distinct by BONAP but as a synonym of G. parisiense by WCSPF
  4. ↑ Altervista Flora Italiana, Galium parisiense
  5. ↑ Grenville, Jane. (1999). Managing the Historic Rural Landscape. Routledge. page 158.
  6. ↑ Hickman, J. C. 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California 1–1400. University of California Press, Berkeley.

External links


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