Lady’s Bedstraw

Member of the coffee family, Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) is often found in pastures and meadows, where it produces fine, aromatic yellow flowers that wave in late spring breezes. Its leaves contain coumarin, giving them a spicy, cumin-like smell when crushed that repels fleas (thus its use as bedding or strewing in earlier days). This is one of the many detoxifying and diuretic spring greens. It is often mistaken for cleavers, another Galium species, but they are distinguished by cleavers’s clinging to clothing and fur; Lady’s Bedstraw is smooth to the touch.