蓬子菜(原变种) peng zi cai (yuan bian zhong)

Galium luteum Lamarck; G. verum var. leiocarpum Ledebour; G. verum var. luteum (Lamarck) Nakai.

Plants to 45 cm tall. Leaf blade usually 1.5-3 cm, glabrous and smooth adaxially. Corolla yellow. Ovary and mericarps glabrous. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. May-Oct.

Mountains, river beaches, open fields, ditch sides, grasslands, meadows, thickets, forests; near sea level to 4000 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [India, Japan, Korea, Pakistan; SW Asia, Europe; adventive in North America and elsewhere].

The citation here of Galium luteum, a long-recognized synonym of G. verum based on a type from France, follows W. C. Chen (loc. cit.: 266). Ehrendorfer et al. (loc. cit.: 200-201) recognized two forms within G. verum subsp. verum, separated by density and distribution of pubescence: f. verum with glabrous ovaries and fruit vs. f. subpubescens with pubescent ovaries and fruit. Thus, their f. subpubescens corresponds to var. tomentosum and var. trachycarpum of Cufodontis (loc. cit.: 216-219) and W. C. Chen (loc. cit.: 268-269).