Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Gentianales Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Rubiaceae
Genus
Galium L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Galium trilobum Colenso, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 20: 192 (1888) – as Galium triloba
Synonymy:
  • = Galium tenuicaule A.Cunn. (1839) nom. illeg., non Galium tenuicaule Krock. 1823
 Description

Perennial herb; stems slender, straggling or scrambling, angled, glabrous or with retrorse hairs, c. 10–70 cm long. Lvs and stipules in distant whorls of 4; petioles 0.5–3 mm long; lamina 2–10–(20) × 0.8–3–(4) mm, usually narrowly elliptic, oblanceolate to spathulate; margins and midrib ciliolate; apex usually mucronate or cuspidate. Fls (1)–3–4 in terminal or axillary cymes; peduncles and pedicels ± deflexed at fruiting, filiform; peduncles (1)–3–20–(30) mm long; pedicels 1–11–(15) mm long; bracts much < lvs and stipules except at base of infl. Corolla 2–3 mm diam., white; lobes ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, acute to mucronate. Mericarps 1–1.5 mm diam., globose, ± finely rugulose, glabrous or sparsely clothed in appressed hairs.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–May.

 Bibliography
Colenso, W. 1888: On new Phænogamic plants of New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 20: 188–211.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]