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Electronic Flora of South Australia species Fact Sheet

Family: Rubiaceae
Galium aparine

Citation: L., Sp. PI. 108 (1753).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Cleavers, goosegrass.

Description:
Annual with weak stems often longer than 1 m, scrambling; stems quadrangular, with recurved hairs mainly along the ridges and long thin hairs around the nodes; leaves and stipules equal, in whorls of 6, or rarely to 8, oblanceolate, 20-70 mm long, mucronate to apiculate, with recurved hairs along the slightly recurved margin and the mid-vein on the undersurface as well as usually hooked hairs on the upper surface, spreading to reflexed when drying.

Inflorescence axillary, usually 2 per node, each with 1-3 rarely more flowers, with peduncles about as long as or longer than the distinctly shorter leaves on the upper part of the plant; corolla white.

Fruit usually 4-5 mm long, with broadly reniform to hemispherical mericarps loosely attached to one another, usually densely covered with hooked hairs; fruiting stalks spreading but often slightly recurved immediately below the fruit.

Published illustration: Ross-Craig (1960)Drawings Brit. Pl.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: NL, SL, KI, SE.   N.S.W.; Vic.; Tas.   Europe to central Asia but now an almost cosmopolitan weed.

Conservation status: naturalised

Flowering time: Nov. — Jan.


SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Taxonomic notes: The concept of Ehrendorfer et al. (1976), Flora Europaea 4:35, and in Davis (1982), Flora of Turkey 7:832, to keep G. spurium separate from G. aparine was found useful for the S.Aust. material although this might be due to extreme clones being introduced into this country.

Author: Not yet available


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