I have been doing some weeding in my flower border as two plants are spreading and taking over. They are both in the bedstraw family, so their scientific names start with Galium. They also have the same arrangement of leaves, in a whorl (circle) around the stem.
 |
| Woodruff on the left with flowers, Goosegrass on the right with no flowers. |
Because they look quite similar, you have to be careful when weeding. The one on the right is Goosegrass (Sticky Willie or Cleavers) (Galium aparine) and is a "weed" as it planted itself. It is an annual and dies in the winter but it produces plenty of round seeds with tiny hooks on. If you have a dog, you will know that they stick in the fur and have to be teased out. I went back in the garden to find a seed to photograph but as I write (mid June) the plants have not flowered yet, so no seeds. This photo from a previous year shows the tiny white, 5 petalled flowers which emerge from the axils (where the leave meets the stem).
 |
| Flowering Goosegrass showing the hooks on the leaves and stem |
 |
| Closeup of hooks on stem |
The one on the left is Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) which is already flowering. It is perennial and comes up year after year. I planted this deliberately but it is taking over! It forms large patches by sending out rhizomes - white roots. I have read that it also has bristly seeds but I have never noticed that. So that is two seeds to look out for and photograph.
 |
| Sweet Woodruff |
 |
| Goosegrass |
UPDATE: It is now mid July and there are seeds on the plants so I am posting a picture. Much to my surprise, both of the seeds have plenty of hooks. The difference in size is just a feature of maturity.
 |
| Woodruff (on left) and Goosegrass (on right) |
No comments:
Post a Comment