Wikimedia Commons
Rubiaceae
Sweet Woodruff
Galium odoratum
Humility and devoted service.
- Family
- Rubiaceae
- Genus
- Galium
- Native to
- Europe, North Africa, Western Asia
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- perennial herb
- Height
- 0.5-1 ft
- Sunlight
- part shade to full shade
- Soil
- moist, humus-rich
- Water
- moderate
- Hardiness
- 4-8
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Sweet woodruff smells of fresh-cut hay when dried, due to coumarin compounds that develop as the plant wilts.
- Dried sweet woodruff was traditionally used to stuff mattresses and hang in wardrobes, both for fragrance and to repel moths.
- In Germany, it flavors the traditional May wine (Maibowle) — a punch made with white wine steeped with fresh woodruff sprigs.
- It forms a superb weed-suppressing ground cover under trees and in dry shade where few other plants thrive.
- The tiny white flowers are arranged in whorled clusters and the plant spreads by runners to carpet large areas.
Color meanings
0
humility
1
constancy
2
woodland magic