Santa Lucia bedstraw facts for kids

Galium clementis, also known as Santa Lucia bedstraw, is a special kind of flowering plant. It belongs to the coffee family, which might surprise you! This plant is quite rare and grows only in the Santa Lucia Mountains in central California.

What is Santa Lucia Bedstraw?

Santa Lucia bedstraw is a plant that grows low to the ground. It forms flat, carpet-like patches that are a dull green color. You can often find it growing among rocks and rocky soil. It's a perennial, which means it lives for more than two years.

How Does It Look?

This plant has thick leaves that grow in groups. They are usually arranged in groups of four around the stem, but sometimes you might see them in groups of six. The leaves and stems are covered with soft, gray hairs, which gives the plant a fuzzy look.

How Does It Reproduce?

Santa Lucia bedstraw is interesting because it has separate male and female plants. This is called being dioecious.

• Male plants produce small groups of flowers. These flowers make pollen, which is needed for the plant to reproduce.
• Female plants grow single flowers. These flowers are where the seeds will form after they are pollinated.

Both the male and female flowers are usually yellow. After the female flower is pollinated, it develops a small fruit. This fruit is a berry that is also covered in soft hairs.