Common Cleavers

Galium aparine

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Gentianales

Family:

Rubiaceae (Bedstraw)

Also in this family:

Caucasian Crosswort, Common Madder, Corn Cleavers, Crosswort, False Cleavers, Fen Bedstraw, Field Madder, Great Marsh Bedstraw, Heath Bedstraw, Hedge Bedstraw, Lady's Bedstraw, Limestone Bedstraw, Marsh Bedstraw, Northern Bedstraw, Pink Woodruff, Slender Bedstraw, Slender Marsh Bedstraw, Squinancywort, Sweet Woodruff, Upright Hedge Bedstraw, Wall Bedstraw, Wild Madder

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Annual

Maximum Size:

150 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Gardens, hedgerows, wasteland, woodland.

Flower:

White, 4 petals

Tiny, white, 4 petals, in branching clusters.

Fruit:

Green globular fruits covered in minute hooks which easily stick to animal fur and clothing. The fruit are called 'burrs'.

Leaves:

Sticky leaves which appear in whorls of 6 to 8, along the square stems. Leaflets have entire margins, are broader near the tips and end in a point or bristle. The leaflets also have stiff hairs along the margins.

Aroma:

Honey-like fragrance.

Other Names:

Barweed, Bedstraw, Beggar Lice, Catchweed, Catchweed, Cliders, Cliders, Clithe, Clivers, Coachweed, Goosebill, Goosefoot, Grip Grass, Hariff, Kisses, Robin-run-the-hedge, Scratch Tongue, Stick-a-back, Stickeljack, Sticky Willow, Sticky Willy, Stickybud, Stickyjack, Stickyleaf, Stickyweed, Velcro Weed.

Frequency (UK):

Abundant

Similar Species:

Corn Cleavers

False Cleavers

Video

Common Cleavers filmed in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk on the 29th June 2022.

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map