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Name That Plant!Texas Gardening

Tiny, 4-Petaled, White Flowers?

2 years ago

This little forb with tiny, ~1/8", 4-petaled, white flowers and ~1" long leaves volunteered in my planter. What is it?

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Comments (3)

peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
2 years ago
Perhaps one of the many Galium sp.
blakrab Centex thanked peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years ago
Looks like Sherardia arvensis to me.
blakrab Centex thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
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^^ Weird. Would be interesting to get some more taste testers and samples to try to establish some consensus on it. I did find these other online evaluations - that seem to echo mine? ----------------------------------- "In terms of flavor, Cleavers is some of my favorite yard food. To me cleavers tastes very much like spring – it’s a fresh, green sort of flavor that I look forward to after winter. I’m guessing my neighbors think I’m a little odd as I’ll often grab a sprig to munch on my way out for work. Cleavers is best mixed in with a salad, if you’re eating it raw, or with other greens to cook as a pot green. I think it would be too much on it’s own and probably too much for your body as well – in part because cleavers, or Galium aparine is strongly medicinal." ----------------------------------- "Can we eat Cleavers ? Galium Aparine Of course we can ! It is a wonderful wild herb, can be found nearly all non-winter year around and can be eaten as salad, can be juiced, dried and used as a herbal infusion. It can be added to your coffee too ! It has no, bad taste at all, non-bitter, crunchy and very easy to identify ! Instead of claiming all the health benefits, don't even think about it ! Just drink a little juice, a little tea, hide a couple of leaves in your regular spinach-watercrest salad and off you go, you used wild herbs !"
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Jay 6a Chicago
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Both answers are correct. I was relieved to learn this was Sherardia. I went through every species of Galium and nothing matched. Either it's not here in my local area, or I've been mistaking it for Galium. BONAP has this listed as Galium sherardia. That name,Galium sherardia was given by Krause in the nineteenth century. This species has had several names since including Asperula, [ 10 synonyms]. Linaeus, adapted the name, already given to it, in honor of William Sherard. Sherard was a botanist, and was classifying plants prior to Linaeus. I read that the flower color, flower shapes, and floral bracts of Sherardia were the reason it wasn't lumped into Galium' but I think the main difference is the floral bracts. I've seen photos of Galium species with red flowers, and then we have Galium trifidum with 3 petaled flowers, but still remaining in Galium? I don't see any significant difference in the flowers of Sherardia compared to Galium flowers, am I missing something? So, the question, are bracts more of a morphological leap then petal count, and deserving of a move to a monotypic genus? Cool link, if you like the history of taxonomy.

https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/plants400/Profiles/st/Sherardia

BONAP Galium sherardia

Galium trifidum

Galium arkansanum

Wouldn't mind having this as a weed.

Weakley (2020) Flora of the Southeastern United States.

Galium sherardia. ...usually treated as a monotypic genus, buy Soza and Olmstead (2010) show Sherardia to be deeply embedded within a paraphyletic Galium.

Gerould Wilhelm ( Plants of the Chicago Region, Flora of the Chicago Region), Sherardia arvensis. Wilhelm also goes with Prenanthes instead of Nabalus. It's hard to decide which of two great botanists is more correct, but I usually side with Weakley, and most native plant people here in northern Illinois swear by Wilhelm, so I'background? Perenn gave the genus. So I have to wonder what Linnaeus would have named it, if he had encountered it as a new, unknown specimen? Galium bracteata? Galium verticillata? He might have even wanted to rename it back then, but didn't want to upset the guys who already had named it in another guy's honor.
blakrab Centex thanked Jay 6a Chicago

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