Licorice Bedstraw

Licorice Bedstraw

Galium circaezans

I had never even heard of Licorice Bedstraw before I encountered this plant.  It is a small, unassuming plant with small white flowers that I had probably walked past a number of times before I ever noticed it.  The leaves are quite distinctive, but you really have to keep your eyes open to spot it.  Like the other Bedstraws, it has tiny white four-petaled flowers, so it's not hard to identify if you really want to.

The leaves do smell like licorice.  I haven't seen it in any of the edible guides, so don't go tasting it unless you're very adventurous.  If you do eat it and survive, please leave a comment on this site.  If you eat it and don't survive, please have your next of kin leave a comment so the rest of us know not to try it.



The leaves give it away. They are four-whorled, three-veined and blunt-tipped.