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Botanical Name: Galium verum (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Rubiaceae
Synonyms: Our Lady’s Bedstraw. Yellow Bedstraw. Maid’s Hair. Petty Mugget. Cheese Renning. Cheese Rennet.
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Gentianales
Genus: Galium
Species: G. verum

Habitat:Native to Europe and Asia.(Most of Europe, including Britain, to W. Asia.) Grows in waste ground, roadsides etc, mainly near the sea, on all but the most acid soils. It  is abundant on dry banks, chiefly near the sea. Its small, bright yellow flowers are closely clustered together in dense panicles at the tops of the wiry, square, upright stems, which are I to 3 feet high, and bear numerous very narrow, almost thread-like leaves, placed six to eight together in whorls. The flowers are in bloom in July and August.

Description:
Lady’s Bedstraw or Yellow Bedstraw is a herbaceous perennial plant. It is a low scrambling plant, with the stems growing to 60-120 cm long, frequently rooting where they touch the ground. The leaves are 1-3 cm long and 2 mm broad, shiny dark green, hairy underneath, borne in whorls of 8-12. The flowers are 2-3 mm in diameter, yellow, and produced in dense clusters.

It is related to the plant Cleavers, or Sticky Willy (Gallium Aparine).

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The plant is inodorous, but has an astringent, acidulous and bitterish taste.
The common English name of this plant, ‘Our Lady’s Bedstraw,’ is derived from its use in former days, even by ladies of rank, for stuffing beds. (The origin of the name is more probably from the Christian legend that this was one of the ‘Cradle Herbs,’ i.e. was in the hay in the manger at Bethlehem. – EDITOR)

Dr. Fernie tells us that because of its bright yellow blossoms, this herb is also named ‘Maid’s Hair,’ for in Henry VIII’s reign ‘maydens did wear silken callis to keep in order their hayre made yellow with dye.’ It has also been known as ‘Petty Mugget,’ from the French petit muguet, a little dandy.

The plant has the property of curdling milk, hence another of its popular names ‘ Cheese Rennet.’ It was called ‘ Cheese Renning’ in the sixteenth century, and Gerard says (quoting from Matthiolus, a famous commentator of Dioscorides), ‘the people of Thuscane do use it to turne their milks and the cheese, which they make of sheepes and goates milke, might be the sweeter and more pleasant to taste. The people in Cheshire especially about Nantwich, where the best cheese is made, do use it in their rennet, esteeming greatly of that cheese above other made without it.’ The rich colour of this cheese was probably originally derived from this plant, though it is now obtained from annatto.

The Highlanders also made special use of Yellow Bedstraw to curdle milk and colour their cheese, and it has been used in Gloucestershire for the same purpose, either aloneor with the juice of the stinging-nettle.

The name of this genus, Galium, from the Greek word gala, milk, is supposed to have been given from this property of the plants which is shared more or less by most of the group.

Cultivation:
Prefers a loose moist leafy soil in some shade, but it tolerates a position in full sun. Plants are tolerant of dry soils[1], but do not thrive in a hot climate. They dislike very acid soils[17, 53]. A very invasive plant, though it is low-growing and mixes without harm with any plants at least 60cm tall. It grows well in the summer meadow and is a food plant for the larvae of several species of butterflies.

Propagation:
Seed - best sown in situ as soon as it is ripe in late summer. The seed can also be sown in situ in the spring though it may be very slow to germinate. Division in spring. The plant can be successfully divided throughout the growing season if the divisions are kept moist until they are established. Very easy, larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the spring.

Medicinal Action and Uses: Antispasmodic; Astringent; Diuretic; Foot care; Lithontripic; Vulnerary.

Lady’s bedstraw has a long history of use as a herbal medicine, though it is little used in modern medicine. Its main application is as a diuretic and as a treatment for skin complaints. The leaves, stems and flowering shoots are antispasmodic, astringent, diuretic, foot care, lithontripic and vulnerary. The plant is used as a remedy in gravel, stone or urinary disorders and is believed to be a remedy for epilepsy. A powder made from the fresh plant is used to soothe reddened skin and reduce inflammation whilst the plant is also used as a poultice on cuts, skin infections, slow-healing wounds etc. The plant is harvested as it comes into flower and is dried for later use. A number of species in this genus contain asperuloside, a substance that produces coumarin and gives the scent of new-mown hay as the plant dries. Asperuloside can be converted into prostaglandins (hormone-like compounds that stimulate the uterus and affect blood vessels), making the genus of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry

Galium verum contains the same chemical principles as G. aparine.

It is still used to a limited degree as a popular remedy in gravel, stone and urinary diseases.

It was formerly highly esteemed as a remedy in epilepsy and hysteria, and was applied externally in cutaneous eruptions, in the form either of the recently expressed juice, or of a decoction from the fresh plant.
‘An ointment,’ says Gerard, ‘is prepared which is good for anointing the weary traveller.’
Culpepper recommends the decoction to stop inward bleeding and bleeding at the nose, and to heal all inward wounds generally.
The flowering tips, distilled with water, are stated to yield an acid liquor which forms a pleasant summer drink.

The flowers of this species and still more those of G. elatum, an allied non-British species, are considered in France a remedy for epilepsy.

Mythology:
Frigg was the goddess of married women, in Norse mythology. She helped women give birth to children, and as Scandinavians used the plant Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) as a sedative, they called it Frigg’s grass.

Edible Uses:
Edible Parts: Leaves; Seed.

Edible Uses: Coffee; Colouring; Curdling agent; Drink.

Leaves - raw or cooked. A yellow dye from the flowering stems is used as a food colouring. The roasted seed is a coffee substitute. The seed is also said to be edible. The chopped up plant can be used as a rennet to coagulate plant milks. The flowering tops are distilled in water to make a refreshing acid beverage

Other Uses: Dye; Repellent; Strewing; Stuffing.

A red dye is obtained from the root. It is rather fiddly to utilize. A yellow dye is obtained from the flowering tops. The dye is obtained from the foliage when it is boiled with alum. The dried plant has the scent of newly mown hay, it was formerly used as a strewing herb and for stuffing mattresses etc[61, 67, . It is said to keep fleas away[207]. A sprig in a shoe is said to prevent blisters

The Yellow Bedstraw can furnish a red dye, like its ally, the Madder of the Continent, Rubia tinctorum. It has been cultivated for the purpose, but with little or no profit, as the roots are too small, though it has been used in the Hebrides for dyeing woollen stuffs red. When attempts have been made to cultivate it, the produce per acre has occasionally exceeded 12 cwt., which is considered an average crop for Madder, but the roots do not yield as much in proportion, and its cultivation has never been undertaken on a very large scale, the crops having been found too small to pay under ordinary circumstances. The same cultivation is necessary as for Madder, the plant requiring a deep, light, but rich loam to succeed well, and the land must be well trenched an manured before planting. The running roots are to be planted, though it may be raised from seed, a plan that has also sometimes been adopted with Madder.

The stem and leaves of this Galium yield good yellow dye, which has been used to great extent in Ireland.

Several other species of this genus have roots capable of yielding red or yellow dye but none of them have been practical applied, their produce being too small to admit of their successful cultivation as dyed plants.

In the past the dried plants were used to stuff mattresses, as the coumarin scent of the plants acts as a flea killer. The flowers were also used to coagulate milk in cheese manufacture and, in Gloucestershire, to colour the cheese Double Gloucester. The plant is also used to make red madder-like and yellow dyes. In Denmark, the plant (known locally as gul snerre) is traditionally used to infuse spirits, making the uniquely Danish drink bjæsk.

Reources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/bedlad25.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_verum

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Galium+verum

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