Lady's Bedstraw and Great Willowherb

Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum)

Colour photograph of the Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. Dense patches of lady’s bedstraw among the dune grasses adds to the wave of yellow colour in late summer. Its erect branching stems are slightly downy, four-angled, and can reach 60 cm. The leaves are thin, pointed and unstalked in whorls of 8-12 around the stem. The minute flowers are bright yellow and in dense clusters on the branching stems. They are just 2-4 mm across with four tiny sepals, four outspread oval petals and four long stamens projecting beyond the petals. Fruit is a smooth 2-lobed green capsule which blackens and splits in half, dropping with the seed retained inside. Old Irish herbal medicine used the plant for healing wounds and stopping nosebleeds. Flowers: July-August, but can be seen on the dunes into late autumn.

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum)
By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum)

Colour photograph of the Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. Dense patches of lady’s bedstraw among the dune grasses adds to the wave of yellow colour in late summer. Its erect branching stems are slightly downy, four-angled, and can reach 60 cm. The leaves are thin, pointed and unstalked in whorls of 8-12 around the stem. The minute flowers are bright yellow and in dense clusters on the branching stems. They are just 2-4 mm across with four tiny sepals, four outspread oval petals and four long stamens projecting beyond the petals. Fruit is a smooth 2-lobed green capsule which blackens and splits in half, dropping with the seed retained inside. Old Irish herbal medicine used the plant for healing wounds and stopping nosebleeds. Flowers: July-August, but can be seen on the dunes into late autumn.

By kind permission of Dorothy Forde

Enlarge image

LADY'S BEDSTRAW (Galium verum)

Dense patches of lady's bedstraw among the dune grasses adds to the wave of yellow colour in late summer. Its erect branching stems are slightly downy, four-angled, and can reach 60 cm. The leaves are thin, pointed and unstalked in whorls of 8-12 around the stem.
 

The minute flowers are bright yellow and in dense clusters on the branching stems. They are just 2-4 mm across with four tiny sepals, four outspread oval petals and four long stamens projecting beyond the petals.
 

Fruit is a smooth 2-lobed green capsule, which blackens, and splits in half, dropping with the seed retained inside.
 

Old Irish herbal medicine used the plant for healing wounds and stopping nosebleeds.
 

Flowers: July-August, but can be seen on the dunes into late autumn.

Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum)

Colour photograph of the Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. Great willowherb towers over the tall grasses on the open duneland to a height of 150 cm. Stems are stout and covered in soft hairs. The narrow stalkless lanceolate leaves are toothed, pointed and usually opposite. The 2 cm flowers have four slightly notched rose-purple petals on long stems rising from the leaf axils. Each flower has a prominent 4-lobed white stigma on a long style. Four green pointed sepals enclose the bud. Fruit is a long 20-80 mm capsule which opens by four long splits to release the small white seeds with their hairy plumes for easy distribution by the wind. Flowers: July-August

Dorothy Forde

Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum)
Dorothy Forde

Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum)

Colour photograph of the Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) wild flower found on the grassland dunes of Bull Island, Dublin. Great willowherb towers over the tall grasses on the open duneland to a height of 150 cm. Stems are stout and covered in soft hairs. The narrow stalkless lanceolate leaves are toothed, pointed and usually opposite. The 2 cm flowers have four slightly notched rose-purple petals on long stems rising from the leaf axils. Each flower has a prominent 4-lobed white stigma on a long style. Four green pointed sepals enclose the bud. Fruit is a long 20-80 mm capsule which opens by four long splits to release the small white seeds with their hairy plumes for easy distribution by the wind. Flowers: July-August

Dorothy Forde

Enlarge image

GREAT WILLOWHERB (Epilobium hirsutum)

Great willowherb towers over the tall grasses on the open duneland to a height of 150 cm. Stems are stout and covered in soft hairs. The narrow stalkless lanceolate leaves are toothed, pointed and usually opposite.
 

The 2 cm flowers have four slightly notched rose-purple petals on long stems rising from the leaf axils. Each flower has a prominent 4-lobed white stigma on a long style. Four green pointed sepals enclose the bud.
 

Fruit is a long 20-80 mm capsule, which opens by four long splits to release the small white seeds with their hairy plumes for easy distribution by the wind.
 

Flowers: July-August

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