Shining bedstraw

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Shining bedstraw

Shining bedstraw habit

Shining bedstraw flowers

Shining bedstraw flowers

Shining bedstraw leaves

Shining bedstraw leaves

Shining bedstraw habit

Shining bedstraw habit

Morphology

Stem

Spreading to ascending, usually much-branched, 4-angled, glabrous or finely pubescent on angles.

Leaves

Appearing whorled, 6 per node; petiole absent; blade narrowly elliptic to linear, 1/4 to 1 inch long, 1/16 to 1/6 inch wide, 1-nerved, base cuneate, margins entire, glabrous or slightly rough, apex acute to cuspidate, mucronate, surfaces glabrous.

Inflorescence

Panicles, cymes, 3--25-flowered, terminal and/or axillary; peduncles 3/5 to 1 2/5 inch, spreading to ascending.

Flower

Pedicels 1/25 to 1/4 inch. Flowers: calyx essentially absent; petals 4, united basally; corolla white, to 1/20 inch; stamens 4; exserted.

Fruit

Schizocarps 1/16 to 1/12 inch long, 1/8 inch wide, glabrous, mericarps globose, dry, 2, indehiscent, often bristly segments; 1 seed per mericarp.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky maple-basswood and oak-hickory forests, bluffs, ledges, floodplain forests, roadsides, thickets.

Distribution

East 1/4 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans took an infusion of the whole plant for kidney and bladder troubles.

Additional Notes