bedstraw

From Middle English bedstraw, bedstrau, bedde-straw, equivalent to bed +‎ straw.

bedstraw (countable and uncountable, plural bedstraws)

1. any plant of herb genus Galium of the madder family with small pointed leaves and hairy stems with small, white or yellow flowers
2. Any plant of the genus Cruciata.
3. (obsolete) straw put into a bed
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis , “VII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. , London: William Rawley ; rinted by J H for William Lee , →OCLC:

     Fleas breed principally of straw or mats, where there hath been a little moisture; or the chamber and bedstraw kept close and not aired

• strawbed

• Galium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Galium on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Galium on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• bedstraw at USDA Plants database

• straw bed, straw-bed, strawbed