Galium odoratum

Perennial of the Rubiaceae family, Galium odoratum — sweet woodruff — is widely spread in Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to Western Siberia, as well as in North Africa. It colonizes cool and shaded undergrowth, beech and oak forests on humus-rich soils, generally in plains and mountains up to about 1,600 meters.

It forms covering and regular carpets 15 to 30 cm high, with erect quadrangular stems bearing whorls of six to eight lanceolate leaves of a tender and shiny green. The entire foliage, once crushed or dried, releases a characteristic scent of fresh hay and coumarin, which has earned the plant a traditional use in cooking and perfumery, notably to flavor May wine in Germany and Alsace.

The flowers, small, white, funnel-shaped with four lobes, are grouped in loose and delicate cymes at the top of the stems. In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from April to June. In cultivation, it occurs at the same dates, sometimes as early as late March in sheltered situations.

It thrives in shade or partial shade, in fresh, humus-rich, and well-drained soil. An excellent ground cover for woodland gardens, it spreads by stolons and gradually forms dense and persistent mats.