Botany: small bedstraw

Self-tutoring about botany: the tutor identifies bedstraw.

A really satisfying identification happens when you notice a plant, see it often, then finally ID it.

Small bedstraw, for me, is the latest such plant. I’ve noticed it a couple of years now, but couldn’t begin to classify it with other familiar plants. I just got lucky, seeing it while thumbing through the guide.

Bedstraw is quite distinctive, since its leaves come in opposed groups of 4 to 6. It tends to climb over other plants. Its fruits are small and come in twos.

Source:

Pojar, Jim and Andy MacKinnon. Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Vancouver: BC Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.

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