Family |
Rubiaceae
Galium verum
L.
Galium verum L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 107 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, Pl. CLVI nº 2; 1983)
• Life-form & habit : Perennial herb, 60–100 cm tall; stems ascending or erect, usually simple, cylindrical or with four prominent ribs, whitish, puberulent or scabrous.
• Leaves : Leaves in whorls of 8–12, narrowly linear, acute, mucronate, strongly revolute on the margins, smooth or scabrous above, slightly pubescent beneath.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Cymes many-flowered, usually very dense, pedunculate or sessile, forming a long panicle interrupted at the base; pedicels short, becoming horizontal in fruit; corolla bright yellow, rarely yellowish-white, 2–3 mm wide, with obtuse, shortly apiculate lobes.
• Fruit : Fruit smooth, glabrous or pubescent.
• Phenology : Flowers from June to July.
• Habitat & elevation : Woodlands and elevated regions, especially in places strongly watered in spring.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from ‘Aqoura, Beskinta, Bikfaya, Ghazir, Falougha, east of Douma, Bhamdoun, Jabal Kneissé, Bcharré, Hasroun, Dimane, ‘Aïn Deheb, Ehden, Qannoubine, above Beskinta, Jabal Barouk, the Cedars, between Sannine and Kneissé, the Col de Zahlé, Hadeth, Neba‘-l-‘Assal, Bouarej, Ta‘naïl, formerly probably in cultivation, and toward Yanta on Hermon.
• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Altay, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Kuril Is., Lebanon-Syria, Manchuria, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Qinghai, Romania, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tasmania, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya.
• Introduced range : Argentina South, California, Colorado, Greenland, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from Galium bassitense by its bright yellow corolla and smooth fruit; G. bassitense has very pale yellow flowers and blackish, strongly roughened fruit. It is also recognizable by its whorls of 8–12 very narrow revolute leaves, dense yellow-flowered panicle, and short pedicels becoming horizontal in fruit.