Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous, climbing or sprawling perennials, dioecious, stems to 60 cm long, 4-angled, pliant and slender, herbage hairy with grayish hairs.

Leaves: Opposite, in apparent whorls because of the large, leaf-like stipules, in whorls of 4, leaflets 6-10 mm long, broadly ovate to elliptic, and 3-veined, the tips obtuse to acute but not sharp to the touch, blades borne on petioles which are expanded at the base.

Flowers: Small, cream-colored to yellow, corollas rotate with 4 lobes, these with acute or acuminate tips, stamens 3-4 with short filaments and small anthers, with 2 short styles fused at the base, ovaries 2-lobed and 2-celled, inferior, flowers borne in drooping, leafy, axillary clusters.

Fruits: Nutlets, occurring in pairs, seperating at maturity, surfaces with long, straight, white, tawny, or bluish hairs. Seeds free in the carpels or embedded in juicy pulp.

Ecology: Found on north-facing slopes and canyon bottoms, from 2,500-7,500 ft (762-2286 m).

Distribution: California.

Notes: Look to the whorled, ovate to elliptic, hairy leaflets, square stems, and fuzzy nutlets with long hairs to help identify this species. McDougall and Kearney and Peebles used for family and genus information only, and have no information for this species, which according to USDA Plants is found only in California.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher2012

Etymology: Galium comes from the Greek word gala, "milk," and alluding to the fact that certain species were used to curdle milk, and hallii is named after Harvey Monroe Hall (1874-1932), who was born in Illinois, and was an authority on the Asteraceae of Southern California, a graduate of and professor of botany at the University of California, and a pioneer in experimental taxonomy.