Galium aparine

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Distribution Map: Based on vouchered plant specimens only. View county names by placing the mouse cursor over a particular county.

Species Distribution Map
Family:RUBIACEAE
Species:Galium aparine L.
Common Name:Cleavers; Sticky Willy; Catchweed Bedstraw
Habitat:Various sites including woodlands, their edges, roadsides and other disturbed sites.
Associated Ecological Communities:**
Growth Habit:Vine
Duration:Annual
Category:Vascular
USDA Symbol:**
Plant Notes:Cleavers is a native or introduced herbaceous annual in the Madder family (Rubiaceae). Some authorities consider it native only to Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, and introduced in North America. It is possible that the species was introduced on the fur and clothing of people and animals crossing the Bering Land Bridge into North America from Asia during the last Ice Age as well as by colonists arriving from Europe in the 1600’s and 1700’s. In Alabama it can be found throughout the state. Cleavers occurs on roadsides, in forest edges and clearing, along streams, and in other disturbed sites. It is an annual with a tap root. The stems are prostrate or trailing over other vegetation and often form mats. The stems are green in color, angled, with short, stiff, backwards pointing teeth along their margins. The leaves occur in whorls of 6-8 per node. The leaves are sessile, linear to oblanceolate in outline, pubescent, with backwards pointing bristles along their margins. Flowers are produced in open, branched, terminal or axillary cymes. Individual flowers have 4 white petals. The fruit is a dry, globular nutlet with hooked bristles that occurs in pairs. Aparine is derived from Greek and means ‘clinging’ or ‘seizing’.—A. Diamond
Taxonomic Notes:**
Status:Native, FACU (NWI), G5 (Global Rank)
References:**
Specimen: View specimen details in the Alabama Herbarium Consortium Specimen Database

** Not applicable or data not available.

Classification

FamilyRUBIACEAE - Madder/Coffee family
Genus Galium
Species Galium aparine L. - Cleavers; Sticky Willy; Catchweed Bedstraw

Citation

Citation Galium aparine Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 108. 1753.
Basionym: **
Type: Without data (lectotype: LINN 129.3). Lectotypified by Jafri, in Jafri & El-Gadi, Fl. Libya 65: 15. 1979.

** Not applicable or data not available.

Synonyms

SynonymFull CitationBasionymType
Galium aparine var. intermedium Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. intermedium Bonnet, Petite Fl. Paris 191. 1883.Galium intermedium Merat 1831, non Schultes 1809. 
Galium aparine var. microphyllum Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. microphyllum Clos, in Gay, Fl. Chil. 3: 190. 1848. CHILE: Coquimbo: Without data, Gay 68 (holotype: P).
Galium aparine var. minor Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. minor Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 290. 1834. CANADA: British Columbia: Near Fort Vancouver, s.d., Douglas s.n. (holotype: K?).
Galium aparine var. pseudoaparine Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. pseudoaparine (Grisebach) Spegazzini, Revista Agron. Univ. Nac. La Plata 3: 526. 1897.Galium pseudoaparine Grisebach 1854. 
Galium aparine var. subglabrum Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. subglabrum Petermann, Fl. Lips. Excurs. 122. 1838. GERMANY
Galium aparine var. verum Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. verum Wimmer & Grabowski, Fl. Siles. 1(1): 119. 1827, nom. inadmiss.Galium aparine Linnaeus 1753. 
Galium aparine var. vulgare Galium aparine Linnaeus, var. vulgare Reichenbach, Icon. Fl. Germ. Helv. 17: 94. 1854, nom. inadmiss.Galium aparine Linnaeus 1753. 
Galium australe Galium australe Reiche, Fl. Chile 3: 149. 1900, nom. illegit.Galium chilense Hooker f. 1846. 
Galium chilense Galium chilense Hooker f., Fl. Antarct. 302bis. 1846. CHILE: Asien: Chonos Archipelago, s.d., Darwin s.n. (holotype: K).
Galium chonosense Galium chonosense Clos, in Gay, Fl. Chil. 3: 189. 1848, nom. illegit. et non Hooker f. 1846.Galium chilense Hooker f. 1846. 
Galium hispidum Galium hispidum Willdenow, Enum. Pl. 154. 1809, non Roth 1789, nec Gaertner 1791. EGYPT
Galium intermedium Galium intermedium Merat, Nouv. Fl. Env. Paris, ed. 3. 2: 255. 1831, non Schultes 1809. FRANCE
Galium lappaceum Galium lappaceum Salisbury, Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton 59. 1796, nom. illegit.Galium aparine Linnaeus 1753. 
Galium larecajense Galium larecajense Wernham, J. Bot. 50: 244. 1912. BOLIVIA: La Paz: Prov. Larecaja, vicinity of Sorata, between Munaypata and Challasuyo River, s.d., Mandon 339 (holotype: BM; isotype: NY).
Galium parviflorum Galium parviflorum Maximowicz, Prim. Fl. Amur. 479. 1859, non Moench 1794, nec Rafinesque 1808, nec D. Don 1825.  
Galium pauciflorum Galium pauciflorum Bunge, Enum. Pl. China Bor. 35. 1833, non Willdenow ex de Candolle 1830.  
Galium pseudoaparine Galium pseudoaparine Grisebach, Abh. Königl. Ges. Wiss. Göttingen 6: 125. 1854. CHILE: Magallanes: Near Punta Arenas, s.d., Lechler 1207 (holotype: GOET; isotypes: BR, G, K, P).
Galium scaberrimum Galium scaberrimum Vahl ex Hornemann, Hort. Bot. Hafn. 135. 1813.Galium hispidum Willdenow 1809, non Roth 1789, nec Gaertner 1791. 
Galium sororium Galium sororium Hance, in Walpers, Ann. Bot. Syst. 2: 734. 1852.  
Galium uncinatum Galium uncinatum Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. 2: 484. 1821, nom. illegit.Galium aparine Linnaeus 1753. 
Galium aparine var. echinospermum    

Specimens and Distribution

This species has been reported in the following counties by the herbaria listed. An overview of the individual specimens are provided in the table that follows. Click on the accession number to view details; click on column headers to sort; choose a county or herbaria to filter the specimen data.

Counties included on distribution map: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Blount, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Colbert, Conecuh, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Cullman, Dale, Dallas, DeKalb, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah, Fayette, Geneva, Greene, Hale, Henry, Houston, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Lowndes, Madison, Marengo, Marshall, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby, St. Clair, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Washington, Wilcox, Winston

Counties represented by specimen data listed below:

Herbaria represented by specimen data listed below: ALNHS, AUA, JSU, SAMF, TROY, UNA, USAM, UWAL, UWFP

Range of years during which specimens were collected: 1955 - 2000

Barcode / Accession No.
County
Coll. Date
Collector &
Collection No.
Herbarium &
Herbarium Name Used
Image
TROY000045773 Autauga 04 Apr 2017 Parker, Matthew R.
544		 TROY
Galium aparine Linnaeus
UWAL0046587 Autauga 04 Apr 2017 Parker, Matthew R.
544		 UWAL
Galium aparine Linnaeus
JSU131847 Baldwin 29 Mar 1998 Brodeur, Kristin R.
435		 JSU
Galium aparine Linnaeus
UWAL0043140 Baldwin 19 Mar 2000 Larsen, Harry S.
518		 UWAL
Galium aparine L.
AUA_ACC_72616 Baldwin 1 Apr 2008 BARGER, T.WAYNE
PERD-315		 AUA
GALIUM APARINE L.
TROY000053710 Barbour 24 Mar 2022 Diamond, Alvin R.
29838		 TROY
Galium aparine Linnaeus
JSU131848 Blount 21 Apr 1973 Whetstone, R. David
RDW-1296		 JSU
Galium aparine Linnaeus
UNA00054153 Blount 11 Apr 1998 Keener, Brian R.
581		 UNA
Galium aparine L.
UWAL0036100 Blount 19 Apr 2015 Anderson, Kelly
779		 UWAL
Galium aparine L.
UWAL0011456 Bullock 22 Feb 2012 Dykes, Bailee
303		 UWAL
Galium aparine Linnaeus
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