Galium angustifolium

{{Short description|Species of plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|name = Narrowleaf bedstraw

|image = Galium angustifolium 2003-05-19.jpg

|genus = Galium

|species = angustifolium

|authority = Nutt. ex Gray

|}}

Galium angustifolium is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common name narrowleaf bedstraw. It is native to California (including the Channel Islands) and Baja California, where it is most commonly found at low elevations in the mountains.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=85649 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families][http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Galium%20angustifolium.png Biota of North America Program]

Galium angustifolium is a stocky perennial herb or small shrub growing from a woody base and producing sprawling stems from a few centimeters to nearly a meter in length. Leaves grow in whorls of four about the stem at intervals, and the stem may branch at these points. The inflorescence is a panicle containing several flowers. The plant is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, similar in appearance with greenish-yellow flower parts. The fruit is a nutlet covered in long bristly white or yellowish hairs.[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?6927,6934,6942 Jepson Manual Treatment]Gray, Asa. 1876. In Brewer, William Henry et al. Geological Survey of California, Botany 1: 285