Galium oreganum Britton

vernacular Oregon bedstraw — species · Rubiaceae

USDA: GAOR
GBIF: 2914085
Rank: species

Oregon bedstraw (Galium oreganum) — Platephotograph · jareddodsonCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Rubiaceae Juss.
Genus: Galium

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 35 counties across 3 states/territories

Legend Native · 35 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: None
Shade: Low
Moisture use: Low
Fire: Medium
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Medium
CaCO₃: None
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -13 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 140 min.
Precipitation: 8–14 in/yr
pH range: 6–7.5
Root depth: 6 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Rhizomatous
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 1 ft
Foliage texture: Fine
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Porous
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: Yes
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Mid Summer
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Rapid
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 756,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 35 counties across 3 states/territories.

California view state ↗ 2 N ▾

Oregon view state ↗ 19 N ▾

Washington view state ↗ 14 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/GAOR ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2914085 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z