Appearance

Galium mollugo is an herbaceous prennial plant that grows to be 1-3 ft (0.3-0.9 m) tall. The simple to branched stems are square and swollen at leaf nodes. G. mollugo tends to sprawl if unsupported. It is native to Africa, temperate Asia and Europe.

Foliage

The leaves are simple and margins are entire. Leaves are whorled around the stem with three or more leaves per node along the stem.

Flowers

The small white flowers are borne in a terminal cyme. The white corolla has 4 lobes (rarely 3) which are pointed at the tip. There is a pair of ovoid green carpels at the base of the flower.

Fruit

The fruit is a carpel that contains one seed that is convex on one side and concave on the other. The rhizomatous root system allows this plant to reproduce vegetatively.

Ecological Threat

G. mollugo can be found growing in light shade to full sun in more or less mesic conditions. It becomes larger in fertile loam, but can grow in other kinds of soil.

Selected Images

Maps

Invasive Listing Sources

• Invasive Plant Species of West Virginia
• Jil M. Swearingen, Survey of invasive plants occurring on National Park Service lands, 2000-2007
• National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant Management Team Invasive Plant List
• New Hampshire Invasive Plant Species Watch List
• WeedUS - Database of Plants Invading Natural Areas in the United States
• West Virginia Native Plant Society, Flora West Virginia Project, and West Virginia Curatorial Database System, September 3, 1999
• Wisconsin Noxious Weeds
• Wisconsin's Invasive species rule – NR 40

References