Galium tomentosum Thunb.

Dioecious perennial with a woody rootstock. Stems climbing or scrambling, ca. 0.3(0.5)-2.5(3.0) m long, with many lateral branches; up to 15(20) mm in diam. and terete at the base, (1)1.5-3(4) mm in diam. and distinctly 4-angled in the mid-stem region; with reversed prickles on the angles or (rarely) subglabrous, the upper parts of the stems frequently densely villous; greyish at the base, often purplish in the upper parts. Longest internodes (20)30-80(100) mm. Middle cauline leaves in whorls of 6-8, 1-nerved, (12)15-25(30) x (2)3-8(10) mm, narrowly to broadly obovate, broadly ovate, or ± lanceolate, often acuminate or acute at the apex and cuneate at the base; with densely set reversed prickles on the often slightly reflexed margins and midrib beneath. Synflorescences extensive, ± broadly pyramidal, paracladia many-flowered, of rather different appearance in [male] and [female] plants; peduncles (1)2-3 mm, ± thickish, subglabrous to villous, pedicels 1-2 mm, ± filiform, hairy, strongly divaricate; [female]: peduncles (10)15-30(35) mm, somewhat elongating after pollination, villous; pedicels (20)25-60(90) mm after pollination, ± thickish, convergent. Flowers 4-merous; [male]: corolla (2)2.5-3.5(4) mm in diam., rotate, greenish, greenish-yellow to pale yellow, occasionally somewhat hairy outside; lobes much longer than wide, ± ovate, acute; stamina very short, filaments thickish, shorter than the ovate anthers, gynoeceum rudimentary, disk small. [female]: corolla 3-4 mm in diam., otherwise as in [male]; styles ca. 1 mm, ca. 2/3 fused, disk larger than in [male]; rudimentary stamina usually recognizable. Fruits dry, granulate, glabrous or sometimes with a few whitish hairs; mericarps ± reniform, with 3 distinct furrows along the back, each (1)1.5-2 mm wide and (2)2.5-3 mm long. Flowering Period: (August) September to November (December).