Velcro

Common Cleavers (Galium aparine)

One of the common "weeds" of the garden is the ubiquitous Common Cleavers (Galium aparine), which is clambering over plants and through shrubs and in flower beds all across the property. We pull most of it out, but there is clearly a massive seed bank in the soil, as it keeps popping up everywhere. And given an inch, it will take a mile and a half! Fortunately, it's an annual, so once we pull it out, it's gone for good. Unfortunately, it's capable of producing upwards of 300 seeds per plant, and those seeds can be viable for more than six years! Given the number of years that the garden was left to run riot, I expect we'll be pulling Common Cleavers for the foreseeable future. The plant is a member of the bedstraw family (as is coffee). Its tiny, white flowers are four-petalled, and its leaves appear to come in whorls of six. In actuality, it's two opposite leaves with two huge stipules at the base of each leaf stalk; the stipules are as big as the leaves. Bristly, hooked hairs cover nearly the entire plant: leaves, stems, seeds — pretty much everything but the flowers. Those hairs help the plant to clamber over anything in its path, and stick the seeds firmly to whatever happens to pass by. Seeds are regularly transported to new locations on birds' feathers and animals' fur. Kids in the UK regularly throw great wads of Common Cleavers at each other for the fun of watching it stick to hair and clothing.

Widespread across Britain and Ireland (except in the Scotland highlands), Common Cleavers is most often found in disturbed habitats, such as cropland, roadsides and waste places. It also occurs in hedgerows, along riverbanks, and on scree slopes and shingle banks. Native to Europe and Asia, it has spread throughout temperate regions around the world and is now rated as an invasive weed in many countries. It has long been used medicinally, primarily for ulcers and growths on the skin and mucous membranes, as well as a treatment for urinary tract conditions. (However, its hairs can cause contact dermititus in some people.) Its seeds are used to produce a permanent red dye, and its dried and roasted seeds can be used as a low-caffeine coffee substitute. Common Cleavers is the larval food plant for at least seven species of UK moth larva, five of which we've caught as adults in our trap: Common Carpet, Green Carpet, Silver-ground Carpet, Barred Straw, and Yellow Shell. That, in itself, is reason enough to keep a small (but well-controlled!) patch of it in the wild corner of the garden.

Hooked seeds