Cleavers - part of the coffee family

I wasn't sure what the real name of this plant was called because as a child we just called it sticky grass, but it seems it has many names. Goosegrass as geese like to eat it, bedstraw as they used to stuff mattresses with it along time ago, cleavers as the sticky seed cleave to anything that brushes past, and catch weed. You may have called it by another name, but we are all familiar with this plant that clings to hedges and spreads in the garden and when out walking you will come home with these sticky little seed balls attached to you.

It's botanical name is galium aparine. It has self pollinating flowers that appear from June to August and an average plant has 300-400 seeds if not more.

What I did find really interesting is that it is part of the coffee family and if the seeds are dried and then roasted they can be used as a very good coffee substitute. I can't wait to try this myself as although I love coffee I get bad headaches from the caffeine, so it will be intriguing to see how this tastes.

It has been used medicinally for many hundreds of years by different cultures. Externally it has been used to soothe skin conditions such as a burn or psoriasis as well as dandruff. When taken internally it has a mild diuretic effect so has historically been used to detoxify the blood and body especially after long periods of taking medication. It is known to stimulate the lymphatic system so it helps to remove toxins from the body more effectively as often people's lymphatics become sluggish and not very effective when they have been ill and this helps cleanse the waste and relieve the swollen glands.

The leaves can be washed and put in a liquidiser with water to make a juice or steeped in boiling water for 10mins to make a tea. Taken a little at a time throughout the day.

To preserve the cleavers juice for later in the year it can be added to either equal amounts of glycerine or honey and added to hot drinks maybe. Think I will definitely try and preserve some by adding it to runny honey.

If you would like to learn more about my exploits foraging for free wild food and the recipes I have cooked with my herbs and grow your own then please have a look at some of my other posts :)

Cleavers growing in our garden