Plant: perennial herb; Polygamous, very finely puberulent; STEMS 15-45 cm long from woody bases, little branched, the branches short

Leaves: 4 per node, 10-23 mm long, linear to narrowly lanceolate-oblanceolate, each narrowed to a broad insertion and narrowed abruptly to a non-pungent apex

Flowers: on narrow inflorescence, the branchlets short, ascending, little exserted; corollas glabrous, greenish or yellow, the apices usually short and blunt.

Fruit: FRUITS a little nodding, densely covered with long straight hairs

Misc: Moist shady places, talus slopes, rock crevices, hillsides; 2050-3150 m (6800-10400 ft); Jul-Oct

REFERENCES: Dempster, Lauramay T. 1995. Rubiaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Sci. 29(l): 29.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Suffrutescent annuals, the plants barely woody above the ground, stems angled, often winged, erect to decumbent or reclining, leaves and stems puberulent to glabrate, the hairs appressed backwards or down, stems slightly rough to the touch.

Leaves: Small, thin, linear to linear-lanceolate, spreading or reflexed, not rigid, obtuse to somewhat acute at the apex, leaves mostly 4 in a whorl, sometimes 2, with slender midribs.

Flowers: Small, white, perfect or unisexual, borne in umbel-like cymes, the peduncles up to 15 mm long.

Fruits: Paired fruits, tuberculate, hairy with straight, white hairs, indehiscent. Seeds with a deeply concave face.

Ecology: Found in moist shady places, talus slopes, and in rock crevices from 8,000-9,500 ft (2438-2896 m); flowering July-August.

Notes: The keys to this species are the woody caudex, the herbage hirsute to puberulent, the leaves reflexed or spreading and obtuse to acute at the apex, with slender midveins, and the white flowers with a glabrous corolla.

Ethnobotany: Used for headaches, as a ceremonial emetic, and as an infusion against influenza.

Etymology: Galium is from the Greek word gala, milk, an allusion to the fact some species are used to curdle milk, while fendleri is named for Augustus Fendler (1813-1883) a German plant collector.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley 2011