Irish wildflowers

Marsh-bedstraw, Galium palustre, Rú corraigh
Photographs: Ballingeary, Co. Cork

Marsh-bedstraw
Galium palustre
Rú corraigh
Family: Rubiaceae

Flowering time: June-August. Perennial. Native.

Small 4-petalled white flowers in wide panicles followed by smooth, black fruit. 4,5 or 6 leaves in each whorl with backward-pointing prickles on leaf edges. Stems trailing or erect, hairless. Leaves turn black when drying. Height to 80cm.

Very common in marshes, ponds, ditches, damp lawns and waste ground.

Similar: Fen Bedstraw, G. uliginosum. Leaves with mucronate tips. Occasional in calcareous bogs and fens.

Marsh-bedstraw, Galium palustre, Rú corraigh

Marsh-bedstraw, Galium palustre, Rú corraigh
Marsh-bedstraw, Galium palustre, Rú corraigh

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