Wildflower (forb) · Rubiaceae
Northern bedstraw
Galium boreale
Northern bedstraw is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 689 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Northern bedstraw at a glance
- Native in
- 689 counties, across 35 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Northern bedstraw is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 689 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 689 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 18 counties
- Arizona 2 counties
- California 6 counties
- Colorado 34 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- Idaho 25 counties
- Illinois 17 counties
- Indiana 16 counties
- Iowa 10 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Maryland 3 counties
- Massachusetts 5 counties
- Michigan 50 counties
- Minnesota 82 counties
- Missouri 2 counties
- Montana 51 counties
- Nebraska 5 counties
- Nevada 1 county
- New Hampshire 5 counties
- New Jersey 9 counties
- New Mexico 10 counties
- New York 32 counties
- North Dakota 49 counties
- Ohio 19 counties
- Oregon 26 counties
- Pennsylvania 33 counties
- South Dakota 13 counties
- Utah 18 counties
- Vermont 10 counties
- Virginia 9 counties
- Washington 24 counties
- West Virginia 5 counties
- Wisconsin 65 counties
- Wyoming 22 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 85
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Contracting Only
- Family
- Rubiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- GABO2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Galium boreale (PLANTS symbol GABO2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources