Lady’s bedstraw ![🌼](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t9b/1/16/1f33c.png)
![🌾](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t9d/1/16/1f33e.png)
![🌿](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t1e/1/16/1f33f.png)
Lady’s bedstraw (scientific name Galium verum) is a very graceful plant, which sways in the wind with its golden yellow flowering stems. 30-90 cm tall, belongs to the Rubiaceae family.
The leaves are arranged in a star shape, both on the stems and on the side branches. The yellow flowers are arranged in dense and long panicles ![🌼](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t9b/1/16/1f33c.png)
; their pollination takes place mainly through flies
and beetles
.
![🌼](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t9b/1/16/1f33c.png)
![🌾](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t9d/1/16/1f33e.png)
![🪰](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc7/1/16/1fab0.png)
![🪲](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tc9/1/16/1fab2.png)
Throughout Europe yellow flowers were used in the past to curdle milk to produce cheese
(hence the name “Galium”, from the Greek gála = milk).
![🧀](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t3e/1/16/1f9c0.png)
Lady’s bedstraw grows in arid meadows, on the edge of the woods, in stony places up to 1700 m above sea level.
This plant has coloring properties: with the root it can be dyed red and with the flowers yellow-orange.
![⁉️](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tec/1/16/2049.png)
![😲](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/tad/1/16/1f632.png)
According to a medieval legend, the Madonna lay in Bethlehem
on a bed of Galium verum, because the donkeys had eaten any other fodder present in the stable.
![💫](https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/ted/1/16/1f4ab.png)
#LIFEprogramme #LIFEproject #EUpollinators #Natura2000
#Galium #bedstraw #pollinators #bees
Photo Pixabay
![375221975_630024139221169_3226572739194703523_n](https://mizar.unive.it/lifepollinaction.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/375221975_630024139221169_3226572739194703523_n.jpg)