This plant invading gardens deserves more attention. She clearly has more abilities than grabbing onto passers-by.
An invasive and sticky weed
The gardener of the newspaper Liberté in Caen in Calvados, Bertrand Souchon, explains that the Cleavers or Gallium aparine is certainly an invasive wild plant but it has multiple uses.
Bertrand, speaks of this herb with nostalgia “we all know this grass since our childhood: it clings to sweaters and it is difficult to get rid of it”.
But not everyone is happy to see it, because in addition to being sticky, it is invasive. This is what Michel, a resident of Croisilles south of Caen, points out. The latter asks how to get rid of it because he has some “all over his hedge”.
The gardener seemed rather reassuring in his response “to prevent it from returning the following year, it is easy to weed it before it flowers ”. That is, around the month of May.
What is Cleavers?
Bertrand Souchon explains to the newspaper, “ this is Galium, the Latin name for Cleavers”.
According to the gardener, this plant has tiny hooks that help it rise. So it can reach up to 1 meter high.
He explains that this herb would be used for cooking. In fact, the gardener gives more precision “At one time it was used for making cheese. Today, it is still used to help milk curdle. ”.
Moreover, according to the gardener, the term “fermented” curdled milk comes from the word Gaillet, the name of the plant.
A plant that has medicinal properties and is said to have even inspired astronauts
According to Bertrand Souchon, this plant is also called vegetable Velcro because “NASA was inspired by it to invent Velcro“. This is a method of closure more commonly called “Velcro”. In fact, a Swiss engineer, George de Mestral, is said to have invented this self-gripping closure in 1941, which was later used for NASA space suits and also for shoes.
That’s not all. Cleavers also have culinary and medicinal virtues. It is an edible plant, according to the gardener “the leaves can be eaten in salad, mixed with lettuce. And when there was no pharmacy, this medicinal plant was used to calm inflamed tonsils.s”. It is even used to stimulate the lymphatic system and soothe swollen lymph nodes, according to the MNHN (National Museum of Natural History) website.
Source : MNHN, -
