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Perennial of the Rubiaceae family, Galium verum — the yellow bedstraw — is widely spread in Europe, temperate Asia, and North Africa. It colonizes dry meadows, sunny embankments, edges, and roadsides, from sea level up to about 2,000 meters, on well-drained, often calcareous and poor soils.
It forms upright and slightly drooping clumps 30 to 80 cm high, with thin, branched stems bearing whorls of very narrow, linear leaves, dark green on top and whitish underneath. The flowers, tiny and bright yellow, are gathered in dense, elongated panicles that stand out above the foliage with a particularly visible brilliance in the full summer sun.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from June to September. In cultivation, it generally occurs from June to August.
Its name, yellow bedstraw, recalls an ancient and verified use: the flowers contain enzymes capable of coagulating milk, and were traditionally used in the making of certain cheeses. In cultivation, it thrives in full sun in any drained and poor soil, where it naturally associates with ornamental grasses and prairie perennials.