Catchweed bedstraw

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Catchweed bedstraw

Catchweed bedstraw

Catchweed bedstraw flowers

Catchweed bedstraw

Catchweed bedstraw fruit

Catchweed bedstraw

Catchweed bedstraw fruit

Catchweed bedstraw leaves

Catchweed bedstraw

Morphology

Stem

Reclining, 4-60 inches long, usually scrambling, forming dense tangles, seldom branched, 4-angled, edges with prickly hairs.

Leaves

Mostly whorled, 6-8 leaves per whorl; blades simple, linear-oblanceolate, .75 to 3.25 inches long, less than 1/3 inch wide, broadest above middle, 1-nerved, margins and lower midrib rough-hairy, tip with sharp firm point.

Inflorescence

Cymes, mostly 3-5-flowered, terminal or on stalks from leaf axils.

Flower

Calyx absent; corolla white, less than 1/12 inch wide; lobes 4.

Fruit

Nearly spherical, less than 1/2 inch in diameter, bristly or rough-hairy; carpels 2; seeds 1 per carpel, grayish-brown.

Ecology

Habitat

Damp areas of prairies, waste ground, roadsides, thickets, and woods; often in shady sites with alluvial soils.

Distribution

Throughout Kansas.

Practical Information

Forage Value

Livestock will eat the plant and pheasants, prairie chickens, and wild turkeys will eat the seeds.

Uses

Native Americans used an infusion of the plant to treat itches and poison ivy and took it as a laxative. The dried and roasted fruits have been used to make a coffee-like beverage.

Additional Notes