Wild licorice (Galium circaezans)
Leaves in 4’s

Fragrant bedstraw (Galium triflorum)
Leaves in 6’s

Cleavers (Galium aparine) AKA Goosegrass
Leaves in 8’s
The bedstraw family includes many useful members, all of which contain a blood-thinning compound (coumarin) remarkably similar to the drug coumadin. Not just these three, but also woodruff, wild madder, and others. I enjoy them as a snack while rambling in the woods, cherishing their individual tastes. And I put the tender growing tips in salads. Woodruff (a cultivated plant) is the classic herb in May wine, but fragrant bedstraw is a wild substitute. Cleavers is the big medicine in this family.