Forest bedstraw

Galium circae, the forest bedstraw, is a slender, herbaceous perennial of the Rubiaceae found in moist deciduous woodlands of eastern North America. It produces weak, four-angled stems 20-60 cm long that scramble through leaf litter and adjacent vegetation, often supported by neighbouring plants. The narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate leaves are borne in whorls of six, are 1-3 cm long, soft to the touch, and bear retrorse prickles on the margins and midrib that catch on clothing. Small, four-lobed, greenish-white to cream flowers about 3 mm across are produced in few-flowered, axillary or terminal cymes from late spring to midsummer. The fruits are dry, paired, bristly-hairy schizocarps that readily cling to fur and fabric, aiding dispersal. The plant prefers shaded, humus-rich slopes and bottomlands, often in association with sugar maple, beech, and basswood.