To cleave = to cling

 

This member of the bedstraw family — which includes sweet woodruff, wild licorice, and wild madder — also goes by clivers, catchweed, goosegrass, bedstraw, burr weed, barweed, Robin-run-over-the-hedge, stickywilly, sweethearts, and Velcro plant.

 

Native to Eurasia, cleavers now has a global presence—naturalized throughout the Northern and Southern hemispheres, even in Australia and Greenland. And it's growing on your roadside, or in your garden. Right now. No matter what kind of soil you have.

 

"Specimen records show it occurs on sandy soils, clay loams, basaltic clays, soils derived from limestone, and alluvium. It is a common weed of roadside ditches."

 

This annual herb, with fibrous roots, "sticky" stalks, whorls of bright green leaves, and minuscule white flowers, is noted for its testicle-look-alike seeds.

 

The doctrine of signatures of course suggests cleavers could help those with testicular problems, even increase spermatogenesis. Thus, stickywilly. But I see an indication for pregnancy in those paired globular seeds. Sweethearts it is.

 

Traditionally, cleavers is a general purpose herb — diuretic, alterative, anti-inflammatory, tonic, astringent — noted for cooling burns, rashes, and fevers.

And it does heal wounds very well indeed.

 

From: BMC Complement Med Ther. 2024

"Bringing back Galium aparine L. from forgotten corners of traditional wound treatment procedures: an antimicrobial, antioxidant, and in-vitro wound healing.

 

"In traditional medicine, one of the widespread plants used for treating different injuries or skin afflictions is Galium aparine. In the present study, the phytochemical profile of the GA extract was analyzed. The wound-healing effects of GA extract were explored at the cellular and molecular levels. Wound closure enhancing effect, antibacterial activity, and antioxidant activity were assessed.

 

"The phytochemical profile revealed phenols, flavonoids, tannins, plant acids, ergot alkaloids, flavonoids, anthraquinones, terpenoids, sterols, salicin, lipophilic compounds, saponins, iridoids, and heterocyclic nitrogen compounds.

 

"Antimicrobial assessment, of the extract, indicated the more susceptibility of S. aureus to the inhibitory effects of GA rather than E. coli and S. epidermidis.

 

"The antioxidant property of GA extract was comparable to ascorbic acid.

 

"The results of the viability assay showed no cytotoxicity effects on human cell lines treated with different concentrations of whole plant extract.

 

"Cell viability, improved cell migration and wound closure increased in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, the wound-healing effects of GA hydroalcoholic extract are shown to align with its use in traditional medicine."

 

But there is much more to this unassuming herb than that. It is a powerful helper to non-specific immunity. And a marvelous driver of lymph movement.

 

"On the European market, there are several drugs and supplements containing cleavers extracts. In several, cleavers is listed as an immunomodulatory. Some drugs containing cleavers are recommended as stimulators of non-specific defense mechanism."

 

From Molecules. 2020

Immunomodulatory Activity,Phytochemical Profile of Infusions of Cleavers Herb - PMC

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7464609/

 

I rely on cleavers tincture to help me deal with my lymphedema.

 

I harvest it just as it is going to seed.

Chop it and steep in 100 proof vodka for at least six weeks.

Sean at Catskill Comfrey finds it effective at reducing his wife's lymphedema applied externally, as an oil.

 

And yes, it increases fertility. Probably by increasing lymphatic circulation to the testes and throughout the pelvis.

 

"Cleavers has traditionally been used to clear swellings from the body, clear urinary tract and fertility conditions, prevent miscarriage, boost fertility in general, and male fertility specifically, while clearing skin problems including eczema and psoriasis, and relieving swelling and soreness in the head, neck and throat." says Candace Hunter, a self-taught herbalist and artist who "never, ever practices on guinea pigs in part because her family and friends are generally up to the job." She is co-author of The Practical Herbalist®'s Herbal Folio series and author of Herbalism for the Zombie Apocalypse.

 

Cleavers is growing near you, no matter where you live.

(True, it doesn't grow in Hawaii.)

 

Look for it sprouting, or already going to seed, depending on how warm it is where you live.

 

If you don't pay attention now, you may miss out on your opportunity to make medicine from this fast-growing, and quick to die, annual herb, and have to wait another year to connect.