Graceful bedstraw facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Graceful bedstraw |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Galium
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| Species: |
porrigens
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Galium porrigens, also known as graceful bedstraw or climbing bedstraw, is a type of flowering plant. It belongs to the coffee family. This plant grows naturally along the west coast of North America. You can find it from Oregon down to Baja California in Mexico.
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About Graceful Bedstraw
Galium porrigens is a small, woody plant that lives for many years. It has stems that like to climb. The plant is covered in tiny, prickly hairs. These hairs help it stick to other plants or surfaces as it grows upwards.
Where Graceful Bedstraw Grows
This plant can be found in many different places. It grows in forests and in coastal shrubland, which are areas with many bushes. It is also often part of the chaparral plant community. Chaparral is a type of shrubland common in California.
What Graceful Bedstraw Looks Like
The leaves of Galium porrigens grow in groups of four around its thin stems. These small leaves are shaped like ovals and have pointed tips. They are usually green, but their tips and edges can sometimes be red or purple.
How Graceful Bedstraw Reproduces
Galium porrigens has separate male and female plants. This means a single plant is either male or female. Male plants produce clusters of flowers that have pollen. Female plants produce single flowers where seeds will form. Both types of flowers are yellowish to reddish in color. After the flowers bloom, the female plants produce a small, round fruit that looks like a berry.
Varieties of Graceful Bedstraw
Scientists recognize two main types, or varieties, of Galium porrigens. These varieties are slightly different from each other.
- Galium porrigens var. porrigens - This variety is found in Oregon, California, and Baja California.
- Galium porrigens var. tenue (Dempster) Dempster - This variety also grows in Oregon and California.
