Family |
Rubiaceae
Galium spurium
L.
Galium spurium L.
(Sp. Pl.: 106; 1753 – Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CLXI nº 2; 1969)
• Life-form & habit: Annual or short-lived perennial herb with slender, weakly erect to climbing stems, 15–60 cm long, quadrangular, scabrid on the angles with minute recurved prickles that help it cling to surrounding vegetation.
• Leaves: In whorls of 6–8, narrowly lanceolate to linear, 10–30 × 1–3 mm, mucronate at the apex, rough along the margins and midrib beneath; upper surface green and glabrous or slightly scabrid.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Cymes small, axillary or terminal, with 2–6 pedicellate flowers; peduncles short, slender, often exceeding the subtending leaves. Corolla rotate, 2–3 mm wide, white to pale greenish; lobes ovate, acute; stamens 4, exserted; style bifid.
• Fruit: Schizocarp globose, 2–3 mm in diameter, splitting into two mericarps densely covered with hooked bristles that adhere to fur or clothing.
• Phenology: Flowers and fruits from April to July.
• Habitat & elevation: Fields, disturbed ground, roadsides, and dry montane slopes; thrives on calcareous or clayey soils, from 400 to 1 800 m. A frequent weed in cultivated and ruderal habitats.
• Lebanese distribution: Reported by Mouterde from the Beqaa Valley, Barouk, Dahr el-Baïdar, and Zahlé; common in disturbed montane areas, especially around field edges, fallows, and village margins.
• Native to: Afghanistan, Albania, Alberta, Algeria, Altay, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burundi, Buryatiya, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Central European Russia, Chad, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, DR Congo, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Free State, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Illinois, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, Krym, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Malawi, Manchuria, Manitoba, Morocco, Nansei-shoto, Netherlands, New Brunswick, North European Russia, Northern Provinces, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Nova Scotia, NW. Balkan Pen., Ontario, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Prince Edward I., Qinghai, Québec, Romania, Rwanda, Sardegna, Saskatchewan, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, Socotra, Somalia, South European Russia, Spain, Sudan-South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tibet, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Yemen (POWO).
• Introduced into: Amur, Finland, Great Britain, New Mexico, New South Wales, Primorye, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia (POWO).
• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: Galium spurium is a widespread Eurasian weed easily recognised by its rough, hooked fruits and whorled linear leaves. It is closely allied to G. aparine but differs by its smaller flowers, shorter stems, and more compact inflorescences. Mouterde (1969) noted its abundance in cultivated zones of Lebanon and the Beqaa, where it behaves as an agrestal species in cereal fields and along field margins.