Lady's Bedstraw was used as bedding by people long ago. The Virgin Mary supposedly used the flowers as bedding for her Child, thence the name.
Lady's Bedstraw, galium verum, is a flowered perennial common to Europe. It generally flowers in July and August. The flowers are bright yellow and paniculate. It has tiny hairlike roots of a reddish color. It may be propagated by seed or division.
The latin name for Lady's Bedstraw - galium - derives from the Greek "˜gala' and means "˜milk'. This is in reference to the plant's ability to curdle milk. In some parts of Europe it is called Curdwort, Cheese Renning, or Renning. At the same time the plant curdled the milk it was also coloring the cheese a nice bright yellow. Today annatto is used to color cheese.
In Ireland, Scotland and parts of England the plant was used by the Celts to dye wool a scarlet crimson color. It is still used today by handcrafters wishing to employ a natural dye.
It was also used as a medicinal tea. It was recommended for kidney stones, epilepsy and dropsy.
Lady's Bedstraw was widely used as a stuffing for mattresses; from the peasant's bed on the floor of his hovel to the elaborately carved and curtained bed of the Lady of the manor. The densely paniculated flowers made for soft bedding.
The plant has a grassy smell like that of dried hay. A certain variety Galium triflorum, or Sweet-scented bedstraw has a honey-sweet scent like vanilla or clover. Galium triflorum also contains coumarin which is the active ingredient in rat poison today. The benefits of such a bedding is readily understood in a civilization filled with bad odors and overflowing with pestilent rats.
There is a legend concerning why the people of Europe used Lady's Bedstraw in their mattresses.
The story is told of the Virgin Mary and how the night of the birth of her Child she had nothing soft to put into the "˜manger cradle' as bedding.
Growing outside the stable was a plant with soft white flowers which she picked and put into the bottom of the manger. The moment she lay the Christ Child onto the flowers they immediately changed from white to gold, signifying to Mary the divinity of her baby.
And it is told, Our Lady's Bedstraw has bloomed gold e're since.
It was a sincere gesture of humility and identification for the people of olden times to use the same plant for their own bedding that Christ's mother used for her Divine Child.
