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rough bedstraw

Galium asprellum ยท Rubiaceae

rough bedstraw (Galium asprellum)
Photo: Robert H. Mohlenbrock. USDA NRCS. 1995. Northeast wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. Northeast National Technical Center, Chester. Courtesy of USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute. ยท Public domain ยท via Wikimedia Commons

rough bedstraw (Galium asprellum) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 3 and warmer, down to about -33ยฐF.

At a glance

Typeforb-herb USDA
Lifecycleperennial USDA
Native statusnative USDA
Mature height5.9 ft USDA
Lightshade USDA
Water needmedium USDA
Growth raterapid USDA
Soil pH5โ€“7 USDA
Flower colorWhite USDA
Hardiness zones3 and warmer USDA
Guild layerunderstory Derived
Nursery availabilityNo Known Source USDA

USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database ยท Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.

Growing conditions

It tolerates full shade. USDA rates it as having moderate water needs. It is recorded on soils from pH 5 to 7 โ€” a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 3; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.

Size and growth

At maturity it reaches about 5.9 ft, making it a low to knee-height plant. It grows quickly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.

Role in a guild

Understory. In a layered planting this is the layer beneath the canopy, tall enough to hold structure but shaded from above. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.

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Tags

deciduousdrought-tolerantclay-tolerantsandy-soilnativeshade-tolerantfast-growing

Related plants

Others in Galium

Similar role and hardiness

Where this data comes from

Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol GAAS2, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.

Read our full data sources and methodology.

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