Galium odoratum
Eating this will make you ill. Listed here so you can recognise and avoid it.
A low woodland herb whose narrow, pointed leaves sit in neat whorls of six to nine around a slender, smooth, four-angled stem. Loose heads of small white four-petalled flowers open in spring. Almost scentless when fresh, it develops a hay-and-vanilla smell as it wilts, and is dried before use in cordials, May wine and sweet dishes.
Carpets the floor of damp, shaded deciduous woodland, particularly beech and ash on chalk and limestone, spreading by creeping rhizomes into large clonal patches. Widespread across Britain and Ireland, and also naturalised from garden plantings.
Contains coumarin: occasional culinary amounts are traditionally regarded as safe, but large or repeated doses can bring on headache, dizziness and nausea, and liver effects have been reported. Discard mouldy or spoiled material, and take care if you are on anticoagulant medication.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Carpets the woodland floor
Spreads by underground runners into broad, even mats of upright shoots ankle-high or lower, rather than growing as scattered individual plants or scrambling over other vegetation.
Leaves in whorls of six to nine
Narrow, lance-shaped leaves radiate from the stem in flat ruffs, repeated at intervals up its length. Leaves in opposite pairs, or in whorls of four or five, mean something else.
Smooth stem, no clinging
The square stem and leaves feel smooth and do not catch on clothing. Any plant that sticks to your sleeve as you pull it is a different bedstraw.
White four-petalled stars above the leaves
Small flowers, about 4 to 6mm across, in loose open clusters carried on thin stalks clear of the topmost leaf whorl. Present from late April into June.
Scent appears as it wilts
The fresh plant is close to scentless. Pick a stem, leave it in your hand for a few minutes or crush it, and a strong new-mown hay and vanilla smell develops. This is the decisive test: no scent on wilting means it is not Sweet Woodruff.
Erect, unbranched stems 15-30 cm tall
Each shoot stands upright in a single tier and does not branch or scramble, so a patch looks like a level green carpet rather than a tangle.
Rough leaf edges, smooth stem
Minute forward-pointing prickles line the leaf margins and can be felt by drawing a finger backwards along the edge, while the four-angled stem stays smooth to the touch.
Small hooked burrs after flowering
The paired, roughly globular fruits are covered in hooked bristles that catch on clothing, confirming a bedstraw even once the flowers and the scent have gone.
Updated 2026-08-08T12:03:23.663Z · Added 2026-08-05T07:35:03.533Z
Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Herb