Galium mollugo L.
hedge bedstraw
Sprawling perennial, glabrous or nearly so, with stout rootstock; stems ± 4-angled, lax, to 30 cm long, longer amongst tall vegetation; branches few, occasionally with patent hairs. Lvs and stipules in whorls of 6, sessile, 4-20 × 1.5-5 mm, sometimes smaller in uppermost axils, oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic, dull, glabrous except for scabridulous or occasionally ciliate, slightly revolute margins; apex mucronate. Infl. an oblong or ovoid, lax, glabrous panicle of many terminal and axillary, divaricately-branched, few-flowered cymes; pedicels < than peduncles; bracts often very reduced, except near base. Corolla (1.7)-2-3 mm diam., white; lobes ovate-oblong, mucronate. Mericarps 0.8-1.5 mm long, ± broad-reniform, rugulose.
N.: Kaitaia district (N. Auckland), Mauku (S. Auckland), Palmerston North, Masterton; S.: Darfield and Fairlie (Canterbury).
Europe, W. Asia 1906
Uncommon and very localised, mainly pastures and waste places, rarely cultivated land.
FL Nov-Mar.
The taxonomy of G. mollugo in Europe is confused and there is no general agreement about how the sp. should be circumscribed. However, the N.Z. plants seem to correspond more closely to G. mollugo than to G. album Miller which is usually separated but sometimes treated as a synonym of G. mollugo.
