The 6-spot Burnet Moth is just one of the many insects that visit Lady’s Bedstraw
Nature on our doorsteps: Lady’s Bedstraw
Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into the natural heritage around us and the beautiful biodiversity of the plants and creatures.
In the past, plants were given names that often indicated what the plant might have been useful for. Lady’s Bedstraw is one such plant.
This lovely plant is a member of the Bedstraw family of plants.
Each of its individual, yellow, four-petalled flowers are very small, only 2 to 3mm wide.
These are held in dense frothy clusters that occur along stems that can grow up to 100cm long.
The plant’s dark green leaves are also very narrow, only 2mm wide, and these grow in whorls around the stem.
The flowers are sweetly scented, and a large patch of Lady’s Bedstraw in bloom can fill the air with the aroma of honey.
When the plant is dried, its scent is more like fresh hay.
This scent is a result of the presence in the plant of a compound called coumarin which also helps to deter fleas.
These two benefits made Lady’s Bedstraw very useful in the past as a stuffing for mattresses and pillows.
The tiny yellow flowers of Lady’s Bedstraw grow in dense clusters along its stem
This is how the plant got its common name.
Lady’s Bedstraw was also valued for other reasons too.
Members of this family of plants were once used to help make cheese, where the flowers were added to milk to help it to coagulate, or clump together.
It was also used to add yellow colour to butter and cheeses.
These uses gave the plant its Latin name, Galium verum, where ‘Galium’ is derived from the Greek word for milk, and where ‘verum’ is derived from the Latin word for true.
Lady’s Bedstraw was also used to make dyes for wools and fabrics.
The roots were used to produce a red dye while the stems and leaves produced a yellow dye.
The plant is important for insects too.
A wide range of butterflies and moths visit its flowers, while their caterpillars also feed on its leaves.
Lady’s Bedstraw tends to grow in dry, light soils, and so it can be seen flowering from July to September in many of the grassy meadows in our parks.
