Yes, yes.....let's play names. Most of you know Sweet Woodruff, Asperula odorata,(or Galium odoratum) a charming little light-green shade loving groundcover that sports sweet little white flowers JUST in time for May Wine (as a matter of fact, Sweet Woodruff IS the flavoring for May Wine!) It doesn't grow much more than six inches high and the foliage darkens as the season goes on. Really lovely stuff, like a carpet of stars
Common bedstraw, on the other hand, CAN grow to perhaps 3 ft tall. There are two of them touted as downright WEEDY in N. America, Galium aristatum (also called false baby's breath) which has whorls of only 4 leaves and Galium Mollugo (called white bedstraw or ALSO false baby's breath) which has whorls of 6-8 leaves. That's the one I struggle with in Cold Spring. It can be rather nice when it first goes into bloom, creating this froth of teeny white flowers, but then it keels over and just gets in EVERYTHING'S way.
There is a yellow flowered one, called Our Lady's Bedstraw and a few times I have attempted to grow a blue flowered one with no success at all.
But it's Cleavers I'd like to introduce you to. And this MUST be a proper introduction in that you simply MUST shake hands, or you just won't know to whom you are speaking. You THINK you've found Cleavers, "Reach Down and TOUCH Somebody's STEM...." and you'll KNOW. If it's smooth and just sits there looking at you, it's bedstraw. If it clings; If it CLEAVES; then say howdy do.
Pretty much everybody in the Galium/Asperula family contains coumarins which smell like a cross between vanilla and new mown hay, but ONLY when dried. Hence, if we gathered just SCADS of bedstraw and began stuffing mattresses, we'd have one FRAGRANT mattress!
So what do we USE this particular weedy wonder for? Well, MY understanding of what Cleavers do/does for us when prepared as a tincture or tea, is that it helps DRAIN lymph glands. That's really important for a lot of important things like recovering from infections, or keeping breasts clear of anything that could become cancerous. But do keep in mind that coumarins are blood-thinning, so if you are already ON a blood thinning med,(which might even bear the name COUMADIN) or have particularly LOW blood pressure, bruise VERY easily, have menstrual flash-floods or any sort of liver, circulatory or kidney problems, be SURE to check with someone knowledgeable before using Cleavers.
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