BEDSTRAW, a genus of plants (Galium) of the family Rubiaceae with about 30o species, found chiefly in temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, many of them being common weeds. The flowers are minute, but are often aggregated into large panicles (see FLOWER). Common British species are the yellow bedstraw (G. verum) and the goosegrass or cleavers (G. Aparine), which bears hooks on the stems, leaves and fruits. Both the foregoing are found in Europe and North America. In the United States and Canada there are some 6o species of Galiurn, several of which are introduced weeds. Among the more con spicuous are the sweet-scented bedstraw (G. triflorurn), which grows throughout that continent and also in Europe and Asia; the northern bedstraw (G. boreale), with profuse clusters of white flowers, found across N. America and also in the British Isles and across northern Europe and Asia; the great bedstraw (G. illollugo), called also wild madder and baby's-breath, an Old World plant, naturalized from Newfoundland to Ohio; the wild licorice (G. circaezans), found in dry woods from Quebec to Min nesota and southward; and the California bedstraw (G. calif orni cum), a yellow-flowered species, native to the Coast ranges. Some species, including G. verurn, G. tri fidum and G. boreale, yield dyes.