Let s start the countdown.
Cleavers plant look alike.
The cleavers plant has a long history of use often utilized by herbalists as one of the primary blood and lymph system cleansing herbs.
Indeed the real headache with goosegrass aka cleavers bedstraw stickywilly is cleaning it of debris.
I think the most likely plant to be confused with cleavers galium aparine is sweet woodruff galium odoratum in the same family they have a similar whorl of leaves and small white flowers that appear in may but sweet woodruff has smooth slightly darker leaves that are a.
The plants become increasingly hair and fibrous as they age also the stems which make up most of the plant get woody.
As ever when harvesting from the wild you should use a good field guide be aware of look a like plants.
People who are fond of growing plants might face a situation where they witness similar looking plants.
To create this list i took into account each plant s toxicity growing range and degree of similarity to its edible look alikes.
This is a wonderful sticky prostate annual plant which often grows wild and prolifically against fences in hedgerows crop fields and beneath trees.
Bittersweet nightshade has small star shaped purple flowers with central yellow cones that appear between mid may and september.
Fortunately many plants look like weed so don t get scared when you see such kind of plant in your backyard or any property that you own.
The younger cleavers are the better.
In particular cleavers are in the bedstraw family.
Galium aparine aparine from greek apairo απαίρω από from αίρω pull to lift lay hold of or seize with many common names including cleavers clivers bedstraw goosegrass catchweed stickyweed sticky bob stickybud stickyback robin run the hedge sticky willy sticky willow stickyjack stickeljack grip grass sticky grass bobby buttons and velcro.
That s why i ve put together this list of the top 10 most dangerous plant look alikes.
The roots also grow mostly horizontally in contrast to the deep root systems of pepperweed and gumweed.
Cleavers are in the rubiaceae family which consists of flowering plants in the coffee madder or bedstraw family.
It is considered a diuretic so one should keep well hydrated if using this herb.
Check if the plant is actually a weed plant or not.
Nothing spoils a great day of wildcrafting like picking the wrong plant and ending up dead.
Other names that cleavers are known as include sticky willy stickybud stickyweed kisses and clivers.
The following information is based on historical uses found in herbal lore.
There are upwards of 3 000 species in the rubiaceae family.
Cleavers have a fresh green taste kind of like young peas with the pod and an element of grassiness and a mild herbal flavor.