Flora of Israel: Bristle-like Bedstraw

Galium setaceum, Bristle-like Bedstraw,
Hebrew: דבקה דקיקה, Arabic: لصيقه

Scientific name:   Galium setaceum Lam.
Synonym name:   Galium decaisnei Boiss.
Common name:   Bristle-like Bedstraw
Hebrew name:   דבקה דקיקה
Arabic name:   لصيقه
Family:   Rubiaceae, פואתיים


Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve
Life form:   Annual
Stems:   Up to 30 cm tall, but usually much smaller; erect, slender, glabrous to sparsely pubescent
Leaves:   Whorled; entire; smooth
Inflorescence:   Cymes
Flowers:   Purple; hermaphrodite
Fruits / pods:   Mericarps c. 0.5–0.8 mm long, densely covered with hooked hairs to glabrous
Flowering Period:   April
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve

Derivation of the botanical name:

Galium from Greek word gala, “milk,” and alluding to the fact that certain species were used to curdle milk.

setaceum, bristled.

  • The standard author abbreviation Lam. is used to indicate Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 – 1829), a French botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.



Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve

Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve