Tinkturenpresse

Galium verum L. - Rubiaceae - lady's bedstraw, yellow bedstraw, Echtes Labkraut, Bettstroh, Gelbes Käselab

Perennial herb, native to Europe and West Asia, naturalized in North America; 30-60cm high, leaves narrow-linear, to 8-10 in whorls; flowers numerous, small, bright yellow.

„The flowering period extends from May to September. The relatively small, golden to lemon yellow, arranged in paniculate inflorescences, flowers smell strongly of honey.“ http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_verum

„In the past, the dried plants were used to stuff mattresses, as the coumarin scent of the plants acts as a flea killer. The flowers were also used to coagulate milk in cheese manufacture and, in Gloucestershire, to colour the cheese Double Gloucester.“ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_verum

„Our goal was to study volatile compounds from flowers of G. verum collected during summer 2008 in Kharkov Oblast′. Analytical samples were obtained from freshly collected raw material by steam distillation and subsequent treatment of the distillate with hexane. The qualitative and quantitative compositions of the lipophilic fraction were established by GC with mass spectrometric detection. cis-3-Hexen-1-ol (29.77%), squalene (20.82%), diethyleneglycol monomethyl ether (10.17%), and benzyl alcohol (7.85%) dominated the lipophilic fraction. The total amount of volatile compounds in G. verum flowers was 2.74% calculated per absolute dry raw material.“
[Essential oil from Galium verum flowers. T. V. Ilina, A. M. Kovaleva,O. V. Goryachaya, A. N. Aleksandrov, Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vol. 45(4), 2009, 587-588]

The mostabundant compounds identified in the essential oils from G.verum fresh leaves were 2-methylbenzaldehyde (26.3%), (Z)-3-hexenol (17.3%), 4-methylbenzaldehyde (7.3%), phenylacetaldehyde (5.1%), benzyl alcohol (4.3%), (3Z)-hexenyl acetate (3.4%), eugenol (1.1%), and benzaldehyde (1.0%). Minor components were e.g. alcohols like hexanol, 1-octen-3-ol and geraniol; aldehydes like hexanal, nonanal, decanal, beta cyclocitral, 2,4-decadienal and dodecanal; aromatics like methyl salicylate, alpha terpineol, indole, and p-vinyl guaiacol.
The mostabundant compounds identified in the essential oils from G.verum fresh flowers were germacrene D (27.7%), 2-methylbenzaldehyde (24.0%), 4-methylbenzaldehyde (8.4%), phenylacetaldehyde (3.4%), (Z)-3-hexenol (3.3%), dodecanal (3.0%), hexanol (2.2%), benzylalcohol (2.0%), and (3Z)-hexenyl acetate (1.1%).
[Tava, Aldo, et al. „Identification of the volatile components of Galium verum L. and Cruciata leavipes opiz from the western Italian Alps.“ Molecules 25.10 (2020): 2333] https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/10/2333/pdf

Lindman, C.A.M., Bilder ur Nordens Flora, vol.1, t.70 (1922-1926)
http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=452155

Galium verum
© Rolf Marschner (2007), www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at