PlantFiles: Catchweed Bedstraw, Sticky Willy, Goose Grass, Cleavers
Galium aparine

Updated - April 2009
I wrote about our dog and this plant last year.
This year she (the dog) is completely healed and still eating
this weed and has all the other dogs eating it also.
They love it for some reason. It is pretty coarse and sticky,
it is hard to believe they like it so much.
We have 2 new dogs we are taking care of this year and
they also are eating this weed. They have eaten all of it
that is inside our 1 acre fenced yard, all along the fence line. So I go outside the fence line and pick it and they eat it out
of my hand as fast as I pick it .... like it is a great treat or
something!
Anyway,,,, they are eating it so fast that it is not going to
be able to go to seed and I think next year there will not
be any in the yard!
So for the people who want to get rid of this weed... see if your pets will eat it!

My original post last spring/summer:
I live in Missouri.
I am sure this plant has been in our yard and all over our land for years but I never noticed it.
This year (2008) in March we began caring for a dog which had been hit by a car. She is a very large dog. The first few weeks at our home she could not even walk so we would haul her into the yard on any nice days in a cart.
As soon as she could sit up and scoot around she went to this patch and started eating this weed.
As the weeks went on she always returned to this weed and could pick it out even when other weeds were all around it.
I don't know what it is about it but I figured maybe it was helping her heal. Plus I she was not eating very well and I was force feeding her for about a month after her surgery.

Anyway, she now has all of my dogs eating this weed so I finally looked it up on the internet and found this information about it.

Now it has been about 2.5 months after her surgery and she now walks pretty well and can run/hop. Even though this weed has gotten tall and coarse she still eats it.

She is in another part of the yard after she could start walking but she found a new patch in the fence row and I now see her and my other dogs laying down there munching on this sticky weed like cows.

This plant is a pest, but on the positive side, it's rather pretty and real easy to pull up!

Unlike in most areas, here Cleavers is a native species. And while most consider it to be a noxious weed, I don't. Here is some information from The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America by Francois Couplan, Ph.D.

"The young shoots of G. aparine are edible raw. Older leaves and stems become impregnated with silicon and are too tough to be used as food. The long stems and the leaf margins are lined with hooked bristles and stick together. They were formerly used as a filter to strain milk and other liquids.

The fruits are one of the best coffee substitutes. They should be picked when their color turns from green to brown, and then parched. After roasting, they develop a distinctive aroma strongly reminiscent of coffee (Coffea spp.). It must be noted that coffee, like cleavers, also belongs to the Rubiaceae family.

This plant contains a glucoside, asperuloside.

It is an antispasmodic, antihypertensive, diuretic, and diaphoretic. Externally, cleavers has been employed as a vulnerary."

Here is some more information from A Handbook of Native American Herbs by Alma R. Hutchens.

"Bodily Influence: Diuretic, tonic, refrigerant, alterative, aperient.

Uses: Notably one of our best-known herbs for obstruction of the urinary organs, especially when combined with broom, bearberry, buchu, and marshmallow. It is particularly useful for stones or gravel and seems to soften and reduce calculus so it can be eliminated without impeding the bowels.

For children or adults suffering from scalding urine it is invaluable, and the refrigerant qualities are soothing in cases of scarlet fever, measles, and all acute diseases. In Vitalogy (1925) Drs. Wood and Ruddock say: "The cold infusion will remove freckles when it is drunk two or three times a day, for two or three months and the parts frequently washed with it, and had recently been used with decided success in treating children for bed wetting, it should be drunk three times a day."

Claudia V. James (1963) gives us another use: "The juice mixed with oatmeal to the consistency of a poultice and applied over an indolent tumor, three times a day, keeping the bowels open, and taking a teaspoonful of the juice every morning will often drive the tumor away in a few days. It is one of the best known herbs for reducing."

For weight loss, ¼ cup of the fresh or dried herb in ½ pint of boiling water, one-third of the amount taken three times a day.

Externally: Cleavers may be used in all acute diseases and deep perplexing psoriasis, eczema, cancer, scrofula, ulcers, and all skin trouble. An infusion is prepared by macerating 1½ ounces of the herb in 1 pint of warm water for 2 hours.

Dose: 2-4 ounces given three or four times a day cold; may be sweetened with honey or brown sugar. Of the tincture, 20-40 drops in water three or four times a day."

We are overrun with Catchweed and my (unsuccessful) solution is to pull it as soon as I see it ... it requires too much vigilance for my taste, even the birds don't seem to like it. It tends to damage more fragile plants as it is pulled because it is so sticky and tenacious.

My judgement of this weed isn't too harsh. Most likely I haven't been able to observe it's thuggishness because it's pitted against much worse weeds on my property like rose, honeysuckle, virginia creeper, garlic mustard, etc.

This is a really nasty weed; however it is edible! The young shoots can be boiled for 10-15 minutes and serves with butter. The ripe fruit can be slow roasted until dark brown and ground to yield a coffee substitute.

Catchweed is considered invasive or noxious in many parts of the US, Canada and Australia. It is difficult to control, let alone to eradicate. I've had some luck smothering large patches under a foot or so of leaves, then hand-pulling the stuff that pops through. It is an annual, so I've been trying to pull it before it goes to seed in early summer. Be very careful with this one!

It's all over here in the Sacramento valley and it's a real pest. Remove it as fast as you can and use gloves because it's really irrating to skin... I get rashes and even small boils when it comes into contact with my skin.

This plant emerges in late winter here in West KY. I spend the better part of the next 3 months pulling it out. Despite it's herbal properties, I still don't like it...there will always be plenty on this property if I ever want to make a tea.

The brittle vines break and it is impossible to get the whole plant. Every little piece seems to be able to regenerate.

Although this plant is a fast grower and rambles over everything in its path, as an herb it is used as a dried extract (capsules and powders), in herbal teas and even eaten raw. When researching this plant, I was amazed at how many ailments it is supposed to relieve including the following: allergies, kidney disfunction, pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) because it is a diuritic, PMS, lymphatic system dysfunction, strep throat, tonsillitis, adenoid ailments, ulcers and tumors. It is even sited as an herbal remedy for horse "sweet itch" ("summer itch") caused by a horse's allergic reaction to sandfly bites because it is supposed to help strengthen the coat and to assist in cleansing the blood by clearing the lymphatic system of toxins. Rather than listing them all because they are so numerous, just type in its scientific name in a search engine and see what you find.

I have a new appreciation for it and will not be so unkind to it as I have in the past. One of the many, many common names for it is "angelic root" because the root of the plant has medicinal uses as well as the rest of the plant parts. Before attempting to ID it and not knowing of its herbal value, I would have given it a negative rating. From now on, I guess when I yank it up from my grass and flowerbeds, I'll eat it or use it in an herbal tea!! :o)

In the Edwardian Age people used to get a whole bunch of Sticky Willy and put it in hot water and drink it for a whole month. It seemed to make their skin very beautiful and that heaps of people fell in love with them.

In the southeast US, catchweed bedstraw is an obnoxious weed. It grows very quickly, starting in early summer: one day you'll have a huge spreading clump clambering over grass, up fences, and across beds. It pulls easily from the ground -- but the brittle stems break, leaving pieces that will regrow, and the little sticky/burred seedpods cling to socks, grass, pets, everything. If you see even a small clump, grab it as soon as possible.

I haven't tried chemical controls; I just rip and rip until it gives up for the summer. The sap is mildly irritating to my skin, so wash your hands and arms if you don't want a red rash. I wouldn't recommend composting, and I certainly wouldn't plant this as any kind of ornamental.

I can see why it's listed as a noxious weed in several areas; it has a prostrate habit, its stems "stick" to anything that brushes against it, and the flowers are tiny compared to the rest of the plant.

When it first appeared, I was anxious to see what my mystery plant was, and even hoped it might be a good candidate to transplant and cultivate, but once it started growing, I quickly realized it has few - if any - redeeming qualities. I think I'll stick with G. odoratum :)