Limestone Bedstraw

Common Name: Limestone Bedstraw

Latin Name: Galium sterneri

Family: Rubiaceae (Bedstraw family)

The bedstraws were so-called because they were formerly used with straw for stuffing mattresses. Limestone bedstraw is a small mat-forming herb with very small white flowers and whorls of small leaves with a bristle-like point at the end of each leaf and backward pointing prickles.

In the British Isles this species is locally frequent on calcareous grasslands and rocky habitats north of a line from the Severn to the Humber estuaries. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park limestone bedstraw is very common and can be seen flowering between June and July on calcareous grasslands alongside blue moor-grass.