Irish wildflowers BSBI map

Limestone Bedstraw, Galium sterneri, Rú beag
Photographs: the Burren, Co. Clare

Limestone Bedstraw
Galium sterneri
Rú beag
Family: Rubiaceae

Flowering time: June-July. Perennial. Native.

Broad panicles of small cream-white flowers with 4 petals are followed by hairless, warty fruit. Whorls of narrow oblong-linear leaves, broadest above middle, with pointed, bristle-like tips and backward pointing hairs on the edges. Smooth stems, the flower stems erect or ascending and prostrate vegetative shoots.

Occurs on limestone grassland, cliff-edges, scree and rocky ground. Can be locally frequent on the Aran Islands and in Co.Clare and Co.Galway, also found in the north of Ireland.

Limestone Bedstraw, Galium sterneri, Rú beag

Limestone Bedstraw, Galium sterneri, Rú beag
Limestone Bedstraw, Galium sterneri, Rú beag

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