Sticky Willy is edible

When I was working in my yard this morning, I pulled up a clump of some kind of plant that was sticky, like velcro. I put that clump on my compost pile, but I thought it smelled something like celery, so I decided to try to find out if it is edible. Searching for sticky plant, brought it up right away. It is edible and can be used to make teas which are supposed to be beneficial to health, so I have pulled up some more to cook with.

http://www.statesman.com/news/lifestyles/home-garden/sticky-weed-useful-but-annoying/nRrN4/

By Renee Studebaker

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Some gardeners call it the Velcro plant. Others know it as cleavers or sticky weed. My favorite common name for Galium aparine? Sticky Willy.

------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_aparine

Cleavers[1] (Galium aparine) are herbaceous annual plants of the family Rubiaceae, which are native to North America and Eurasia.

-----


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.[5][6] Geese thoroughly enjoy eating G. aparine, hence one of its other common names, "goosegrass".[7] Cleavers are in the same family as coffee. The fruits of cleavers have often been dried and roasted, and then used as a coffee substitute which contains less caffeine.[

-----

As a tea, the plant acts medicinally as a diuretic, lymphatic, and detoxifier.[6][12] As a lymphatic tonic, it is used in a wide range of problems involving the lymph system, such as swollen glands (e.g. tonsillitis).[13]

Poultices and washes made from cleavers were traditionally used to treat a variety of skin ailments, light wounds and burns.[14] As a pulp, it has been used to relieve poisonous bites and stings.[15] To make a poultice, the entire plant is used, and applied directly to the affected area.[16]

The asperuloside in cleavers acts as a mild sedative, and one study showed that cleaver extract lowers the blood pressure of dogs, without slowing their heart rate, or any other dangerous side effects. Ethnobotanist Dr. James A. Duke recommends a dosage of one ounce of dried leaves to a pint of water, 1 to 2 teaspoons of tincture, or 2 to 4 grams of the dried herb in a cup of boiling water, three times daily.[

Dioscorides reported that ancient Greek shepherds would use the barbed stems of cleavers to make a "rough sieve", which could be used to strain milk. Linnaeus later reported the same usage in Sweden—a tradition that is still practiced in modern times.[14][18]

In Europe, the dried, matted foliage of the plant was once used to stuff mattresses. Several of the bedstraws were used for this purpose, due to the fact that the clinging hairs cause the branches to stick together, which enables the mattress filling to maintain a uniform thickness.[6][19] The roots of cleavers can be used to make a permanent red dye.[