We all know about Goosegrass, Cleavers or Sticky Willy. It's the one that sticks to your clothes - stems, leaves and seeds endowed with velcro-style hooks.
A more attractive relative is the bright yellow Lady's Bedstraw. The leaves look similar but lack the velcro hooks of goosegrass. When dried it has the scent of new mown hay due to a substance called coumarin. Supposedly The Virgin Mary lay on a bed of this plant in the stable at Bethlehem, hence Lady's Bedstraw.
It's quite common in fields at this time of year, standing erect among the grass.
The white version found sprawling on hedgebanks is Hedge Bedstraw.
And the most fragrant member of this genus is Woodruff, used to flavour young white wine (Maiwein) in Germany. It flowers in May.
Typical of the genus are the narrow leaves in whorls all round the stem and the clusters of small, four-petalled flowers.
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