Northern bedstraw (Galium boreale) is a perennial which grows from creeping rhizomes, with squarish stems in clusters.   Narrow lanceolate veined and pointed leaves in groups of 4 are on evenly-spaced whorls around the stems.   Small white flowers emerge in panicles at the tops of the stems.   Each flower has 4 pointed white sections “folded-back”  around a fused “tube”.  Stems with terminal flower range from 20 to 40 cm tall.    Bedstraw is fragrant when it is in full flower.

Bedstraw flowers in summer, then seeds develop in late summer and fall.    Some bedstraw varieties are edible.    The plant was traditionally used for stuffing mattresses, hence the common name.   The plant dies back entirely over winter, but surrounding rhizomes establish new growth each spring.   

Bedstraw is found all over temperate areas of the continent.    We can observe it in grasslands, in open forests, in clearings, and in meadows in a range of elevations.