Cleavers

Appearance

Cleavers are annuals with creeping straggling stems which branch and grow along the ground and over other plants. They attach themselves with the small hooked hairs which grow out of the stems and leaves. The stems can reach up to three feet or longer, and are angular or square shaped. The leaves are simple, narrowly oblanceolate to linear, and borne in whorls of six to eight.

Cleavers have tiny, star-shaped, white to greenish flowers, which emerge from early spring to summer. The flowers are clustered in groups of two or three, and are borne out of the leaf axils. The globular fruits are burrs which grow one to three seeds clustered together; they are covered with hooked hairs which cling to animal fur, aiding in seed dispersal.

Naming

Synonyms
Aparine hispida Moench nom. illeg.
Aparine vulgaris Hill
Asperula aparine (L.) Besser nom. illeg.
Asterophyllum aparine (L.) Schimp. & Spenn.
Crucianella purpurea Wulff ex Steud.
Galion aparinum (L.) St.-Lag.
Galium aculeatissimum Kit. ex Kanitz
Galium adhaerens Gilib. nom. inval.
Galium asperum Honck. nom. illeg.
Galium australe Reiche nom. illeg.
Galium charoides Rusby
Galium chilense Hook.f.
Galium chonosense Clos nom. illeg.
Galium hispidum Willd.
Galium horridum Eckl. & Zeyh. nom. illeg.
Galium intermedium Mérat nom. illeg.
Galium lappaceum Salisb. nom. illeg.
Galium larecajense Wernham
Galium parviflorum Maxim. nom. illeg.
Galium pseudoaparine Griseb.
Galium scaberrimum Vahl ex Hornem.
Galium segetum K.Koch
Galium tenerrimum Schur
Galium uliginosum Thunb. nom. illeg.
Galium uncinatum Gray
Rubia aparine (L.) Baill.

Distribution

The species is native to a wide region of Europe, North Africa and Asia from Britain and the Canary Islands to Japan. It is now naturalized throughout most of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Australia, some oceanic islands and scattered locations in Africa. Whether it is native to North America is a question of some debate, but it is considered to be native there in most literature. It is considered a noxious weed in many places.

Habitat

The plant can be found growing in hedges and waste places, limestone scree and as a garden weed.

The anthraquinone aldehyde nordamnacanthal present in "G. aparine" has an antifeedant activity against "Spodoptera litura", the Oriental leafworm moth, a species which is considered an agricultural pest. The Acari "Cecidophyes rouhollahi" can be found on "G. aparine".

Uses

Dioscorides reported that ancient Greek shepherds would use the barbed stems of cleavers to make a "rough sieve", which could be used to strain milk. Linnaeus later reported the same usage in Sweden, a tradition that is still practiced in modern times.

In Europe, the dried, matted foliage of the plant was once used to stuff mattresses. Several of the bedstraws were used for this purpose because the clinging hairs cause the branches to stick together, which enables the mattress filling to maintain a uniform thickness. The roots of cleavers can be used to make a permanent red dye.