Cleavers

Whether you know it as cleavers, clivers, goosegrass, sticky willy, organic sellotape, or the botanical name of Galium aparine, you will have come across this delicate yet robust plant scrambling through gardens and hedgerows.

Magic appearance

Seemingly from nowhere, yards and yards of cleavers stems, prettily decorated with whorls of leaves at neat intervals, appear in spring, wrapping themselves around garden borders, through hedgerows and on wasteland, planters, roadsides, wherever there’s a bit of soil to root in.

Natural attachment

The plant is covered in small, hook-like bristles enabling it to cling to almost anything it touches – including the sleeves, slacks and socks of any passing walkers or foragers. Most of it’s folk names derive from this sticky habit. In Anglo-Saxon times it was called ‘Harriff’ or ‘Erriff’, a derivation of ‘hege-rife’ which is either a tax-gatherer or a robber (some similarity between the two you may think). This was their reference to the plant’s grabbing nature, as it plucked the wool from sheep when they passed by a hedge.

Spring tonic

It’s often worth looking at the plants which clearly contain much vital energy, as cleavers displays in its hedgerow romping. We often find them packed with beneficial constituents that can help our diet, skincare and wellbeing.

In the case of cleavers, we find three distinct beneficial acids: tannic, citric and rubichloric.

Tannic acid

Tannins are anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant. As anyone over the age of forty is likely to have some level of inflammation in their body; and oxidation is a key factor in ageing, its no wonder the tannins in cleavers can help us feel fresher.

Citric acid

Citric acid is another natural anti-oxidant, often included in skincare to help minimise signs of aging. You might have used it too as an eco-cleaning approach. You can see how cleavers helps as a great cleansing herb.

Rubichloric acid

Rubichloric acid is much less common, though we do also find it in woodruff, which, like cleavers, is in the Rubiaceae family of plants.

Fresh skincare

We can benefit from using cleavers in a very-simple-to-prepare skin cleansing tonic. This is great for those suffering from eczema and psoriasis, but can also provide a clearing wash for all complexions. All you need to do is gather a handful of cleavers, then pop them in a container and pour on recently boiled water. Leave to infuse for ten minutes, then strain into a jug.

This also makes a revitalising hair tonic to use as a rinse after shampooing and conditioning, helping improve texture and shine, as well as treating dandruff.

And the herb has great deodorising properties too, making it good to include in a foot soak, or a home made deodorant cream or spray.

Healing balm

Cleavers provides a gentle approach to nursing burns and scalds, whether occuring as a result of sun or wind exposure, or some other accident. Its the tannic acid that has particular affinity for cold sores, rashes, sunburn and prickly heat. To get most benefit, it’s best to incorporate the cleavers into an ointment by macerating it in oil and then blending this with butters and waxes. If you’d like to know more about creating simple preparations like this, Field Fresh Skincare has blend-it-yourself courses specially designed for the curious beginner.

Refreshing drink

Just like popping a slice of lemon or cucumber into a jug of water, you could also add a stem of cleavers, it has the same refreshing zing. I’ll often look for a fresh sprig to stuff into my water bottle when on a walk, or I’ll gather a bit on my morning stroll round the garden as a refreshing addition to the water jug on my desk.

Creative ways with cleavers

As such a ubiquitous plant, its not surprising that cleavers has been put to many uses.

In Sweden, the small seeds of cleavers are roasted and ground as a coffee substitute. As an aside, I’m currently compiling a list of herbs that have been used as coffee substitutes, they are many and varied – if you hear of one, do let me know and we can add it to our trials!

The leaves and stems of cleavers can be brewed as a tea.

In Turkey cleavers is known as ‘yoghurt herb’ because they use its acidic properties to make milk coagulate.

The stems of cleavers have been fashioned into sieves to help separate fluid from more solid matter.

The stems are a very popular animal fodder, particularly enjoyed by horses, cows and sheep, also good to give to chickens.

Those little black seeds have also been used by lacemakers to enlarge the heads of their pins.

And the roots of cleavers give a red dye, so much so, when birds have been avidly feeding on the roots, their carcasses may be stained red.