Galium aparine.  Clivers, Cleavers, Goose grass   Family: Rubiaceae  
Galium aparine is edible. The leaves and stems of the plant can be cooked as a leaf vegetable if gathered before the fruits appear. However, the numerous small hooks which cover the plant and give it its clinging nature can make it less palatable if eaten raw.
PART USED: Arial parts gathered during the flowering/fruiting period.
TASTE: Slightly saline ODORLESS
ACTIONS
GROUP: Alteratives, and Antineoplastics
1. Astringent. Mild astringent.[4]
2. Diuretic.[1,2,4]
3. Cicitrant (healing wound/scar tissue).
4. Hepatic. Aperient.[4]
5. Tonic.[4]
6. Alterative.[4]
INDICATIONS
1. Enlarged lymph nodes.[1,2,4] Psoriasis.[1,2,4] Acne. Tumors.  Cysts. Skin cancers.  Abcesses. Wounds. Ulcers. Sunburn. Burns. Lymphadenitis.
2. Dysuria.[1,2] Edema. Cystitis.[4] Suppression of urine. Gravel and stones.
3. Diarrhea.
4. Jaundice.
5. Insomnia.
6. Urinary tract inflammation.
7. Any mucus membrane irritation.
8. Strengthen hair, nails and teeth.
9. Fevers.
COMBINATIONS
- Cystitis, use with Marshmallow.
PREPARATIONS  3X/day
Dried herb  2-4 g or by infusion  1:20.[1,2,4]
Fluid extract  1:1 in 25% alcohol  2-4 ml.
Fluid extract 1:2 in 25% alcohol.[3]
Expressed  juice  3-15 ml.
Local-  Poultice, lotion .[1,2]

DESCRIPTION: Native British herb, scrambling  in growth, up to 120 cm tall, with four angled, rough stems and whorls of linear leaves with prickly margins, bearing small heads of whitish flowers, and bristly fruits.
References
Inner Path can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.
Constituents.
Research.
Extracts of Clivers, lower arterial blood pressure in dogs without slowing the heart rate or showing any toxic effects.[1]
Herbalists have long regarded cleavers as a valuable lymphatic tonic and diuretic. The lymph system is the body's mechanism to wash tissues of toxins, passing them back into the bloodstream to be cleansed by the Liver and kidneys. This cleansing action makes cleavers useful in treating conditions like psoriasis and arthritis, which benefit from purifying the blood. Cleavers is a reliable diuretic used to help clean gravel and urinary stones and to treat urinary infections. In cats, these actions make cleavers a safe long-term aid in the treatment of feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD), and the herb may also be useful for chronic low-grade kidney inflammation. In studies cleavers extract lowered blood pressure without slowing heart rate or having any health-threatening side effects.
This herb is a coffee relative and the roasted seeds are used as a coffee substitute. The young leaves can be eaten like spinach.[2]
References
[1] Delas, R. et al. (1947) 66th Cong. French Ass. Prog. Sci. Sect. Pharmacol Toulouse Med. 49, 57
[2] americandragon.com

Evaluation of diverse antioxidant activities of Galium aparine.
Bokhari J, Khan MR, Shabbir M, Rashid U, Jan S, Zai JA.
Abstract
Methanol extract and its n-hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol and aqueous fraction of Galium aparine L. (Rubiacea) were evaluated in vitro for their antioxidant capacity (DPPH, superoxide radical, phosphomolybdate assay); reducing power (ABTS, hydroxyl, hydrogen peroxide, to reduce Fe(3+) to Fe(2+) ions) and to estimate total flavonoid and phenolic contents. All the free radical generating assay models depicted differential positive scavenging activity but considerable magnitude for all the fractions. The results showed that aqueous fraction strongly scavenge the DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radicals. A significantly high correlation coefficient existed between IC(50) values of DPPH and superoxide radical with total phenolic content and phosphomolybdate assay with total flavonoid contents, respectively. These results suggested that aqueous fraction can be a good source of antioxidant therapeutic in oxidative stress damages.
PMID: 23211618 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2012.09.056  Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2013 Feb;102:24-9. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2012.09.056. Epub 2012 Oct 13. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Galium aparine as a remedy for chronic ulcers..
By F. J. B. QUINLAN, M1.D.Dubl., F.K.Q.C.P.,
Physician to St. Vincent's Hospital; Professor of Materia Mediqa and Therapeutics, Catholic University; Examiner in same, Royal University of Ireland.
Few of those connected with the admission of patients into hospital fail to observe the number of applicants suffering from chronic ulcers, principally of the legs; and in some institutions there appears to be a tacit rule against their admission. When admitted, especially if old and broken-down persons, they frequently occupy a bed for months, to the exclusion of relievable sufferers, and sometimes with unsatisfactory results. The great difficulty in treatment seems the impossibility of maintaining permanent healthy granular action; and strapping, sponge-grafting, skin-grafting, and the application of irritants, such as mercuric oxide, silver nitrate, or cupric sulphate, are often tried in vain. I would wish to mention a remedy new to me, and which proved successful when all the above well-known methods had entirely failed.
Immediately after the publication in the JOURNAL of January last of a note upon a pulmonary remedial simple, I received letters from several parts of the United Kingdom, recommending me to try the effects of the galium aparine in the treatment of chronic ulcers-a recommendation which I was unable to adopt, for the sufficient reason that the plant was then nowhere to be obtained., I made a note of the matter, and a suitable opportunity for trial presented itself in due time.
The galium aparine is a wild annual belonging to the natural order Iubiacee, and is described in Sowerby's BritisA Botany, vol. iv, pp. 225-6. An excellent coloured illustration is given in the appendix of the same volume, plate 658. It is a well-known weed, found in the hedges in every part of the United Kingdom, and of Northern Europe. It runs to from two to four feet in length, and has a succulent square stem covered with prickles, which can be felt by drawing the finger and thumb along the stalk in the upward direction. This circumstance causes it to adhere to the clothes: of passers-by, and has procured for it in some places the name'of "cleavers,' or "catchweed." Its more usual name in England' is "goosegrass ;" in Ireland, it has the peculiar designation of " robin run the hedge," arising from the Way in which it spreads; in
France, it is called "Iaillet gratoron;" in. Gtrmany, ":lKletterndes Labkraut." In this country, it appears from about the beginning of May till the end of autumn. Cornelius C., aged 74, from Clonmel, a very tall, weak, and wornout old man,, applied for admission to St.. Vincent's Hospital on the 8th of February last. He suffered from enormous ulcers of both legs; that on the right being eight inches and a half long, and extending nearly round the whole limb; and that on the left being little smaller. He had just come out of another Dublin hospital, where he had been for four months under the care of a very eminent medical man, and with no good result. A more unpromising case of 1174 THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL. [June 16, 1883. such ulceration could not be imagined, and few hospitals Would entertain the idea of receiving him. He was, however, admitted at the request of a very valued friend of the institution, who represented that he had come a long way from home in the hope of relief. Strapping being plainly out of the question, from the size
of the ulcers and the low vitality of the surrounding skin, I grafted the entire surfaces with layers of sponge. This process went on in the usual manner, and left a healthy surface; the granulations of which, however, soon died away, and could not be kept up. Skin- grafting failed utterly.
We had now come nearly to the end of April, and our failure in this case was as complete as that of our sister hospital. It appeared to me that now was the time to try the galium aparine, which was beginning to peep out in all the hedgerows about Dublin. Here I must tender my acknowledgments of the zeal and energy of the members of my clinical class, who were untiring in their efforts to collect this herb, which was not to be had of any of the herbalists. An ample supply for this and other less severe cases has since been kept up, and it has been used with the most marked success in the following manner. Grasping in the left hand a bundle of ten or twelve stalks, with a scissors held in the right hand, the bundle is cut into junks about 'half an inch long. These are thrown into a mortar, and pounded into a paste. This paste, which has an acrid taste and slightly acrid smell, is made up into a large poultice, applied to the ulcer, and' secured with a bandage. It is renewed three times a day. Its action appears to be a slight steady stimulant, and powerful promoter of healthy granulation. Its effect in this most unhopeful case was decisive and plain to all. Healthy action ensued, and has since steadily continued; and, after a month of treatment, both ulcers have been reduced to considerably less than half their original size. If this action continue, which I have no reason to doubt, the cure will be accomplished within a measurable and short period. The patient is in the ward, and anyone can see the great amount of new dermatisation which has been effected during the month. I could give several other cases not so striking as the above, but it would be mere repetition. Of one, however, I would wish to make brief mention. Mary G., aged 34, was in a very advanced stage of pulmonary consumption, with great wasting and emaciation. Severe lesions of the left lung compelled her to lie always on her right side; and, as a
result, she got bed-sores on the right shoulder and on the right trochanter. In addition to a large water-bed, I dressed both bedsores with the galium pulp. The application was found most grateful and soothing, and rapidly healed the bed-sores. She is still alive, though passing rapidly away. She does not, however, suffer from the sores; and I have had some other instances of the same kind. As far as chronic ulcers are concerned, the application suits best in the indolent or in the healthy states. In irritable ulcers, its stimulating property causes pain. In such cases, it is necessary to reduce the irritability by poultices, iodoform, or other well-known remedies, before beginning the galium.
My reason for putting forward this remedy so soon is, that now is the time to try it. It is growing freely in almost every hedge, and can be got in any quantity during the rest of the season. A difficulty at once suggests itself as to its general employment; viz., that in winter and spring it is not to be had at all. It appears to me that this difficulty can be effectually met by the method of ensilage, by means of which green food for cattle has for the last few years been kept perfectly sweet and fresh by burying it in silos under the ground. This plan is generally known, but all particulars about it can be learned in the pamphlet of Mr. Thomas Christy, P.L.S. (Christy and Co., 155, Fenchurch Street, London, E.C.). In the case of the galium, the process would consist of cutting the herb
very fine, ramming it down by screw-pressure into a glazed earthenware jar with an air-tight cover, and burying it in the ground. Thus secured from air, moisture, and heat, it would be likely to keep through the winter. One of my pqpils, Mr. MI. Pierce, has already laid it thus down, and will report the result to me.* This plan, if successful, might be extended to other pharmaceutical herbs; for I have always had the idea that green herbs are more powerful than dried ones. Indeed, the late Mr. Donovan of this city used to maintain that, to make tincture of digitalis properly, the alcohol should be brought to where the foxglove was growing, and the live plant plunged into it.
Many virtues are attributed to the galium by old writers; but I have not been able to find any allusion to its employment in the treatment of ulcers. Linnseus mentions that in Sweden the shepherds use its stalks for straining milk-a fact also stated by Dioscorides. Its roots form a nice red dye. These are the only uses that I have been able to ascertain in regard to it in the books at my disposal.  June 16, 1883. THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL 1173 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Evaluation of diverse antioxidant activities of Galium aparine.
Bokhari J, Khan MR, Shabbir M, Rashid U, Jan S, Zai JA.
Abstract
Methanol extract and its n-hexane, ethyl acetate, butanol and aqueous fraction of Galium aparine L. (Rubiacea) were evaluated in vitro for their antioxidant capacity (DPPH, superoxide radical, phosphomolybdate assay); reducing power (ABTS, hydroxyl, hydrogen peroxide, to reduce Fe(3+) to Fe(2+) ions) and to estimate total flavonoid and phenolic contents. All the free radical generating assay models depicted differential positive scavenging activity but considerable magnitude for all the fractions. The results showed that aqueous fraction strongly scavenge the DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radicals. A significantly high correlation coefficient existed between IC(50) values of DPPH and superoxide radical with total phenolic content and phosphomolybdate assay with total flavonoid contents, respectively. These results suggested that aqueous fraction can be a good source of antioxidant therapeutic in oxidative stress damages.
PMID: 23211618 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2012.09.056
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2013 Feb;102:24-9. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2012.09.056. Epub 2012 Oct 13. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov