Sweet Woodruff
Galium odoratum
Alternative names: Hay plant, Kiss-me-quick, Mugwet, Rockweed, Sweet grass, Waldmeister
Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a woodland plant containing coumarin and sometimes listed as toxic. It produces the smell of summer upon drying and has a flavour in between almond and vanilla.
Traditionally used for flavouring drinks but also blending well with milk-based puddings, it featured strongly as a scent in snuffs, pot-pourris, linen cupboards and was even used as a bookmark.
Found in woodland and used as an indicator of ancient woodland, particularly in lowland England, Sweet woodruff is a common plant which you may have seen around many times without realising. It is related to Cleavers and has the same whorls of leaves up the stem but lacks the hooks which give Cleavers it’s many common names.
Where Does Sweet Woodruff Grow?
This is a plant of shade, most commonly found in deciduous woodland, on hedgebanks and on banks by streams and rivers. It grows across most of the UK and is common, aside from in the East between Leeds and London where it is considered rare. When it finds the right conditions it often ends up forming carpets across the woodland floor, possibly the reason behind the sixteenth century name – ‘woodrove’.
Is Sweet Woodruff Edible?
Sweet Woodruff is another plant like Wood Sorrel which is sometimes marked as toxic and other times isn’t in plant/foraging books. It contains coumarin, which is moderately toxic, although the amount that is required to result in any ill effects is quite large. As with other mildly toxic foods, it will depend upon individual physiology. To put your mind at ease, coumarin is also found in strawberries and cinnamon, amongst other commonplace foodstuffs.
The flavour is subtle when the plant is green, best around flowering time and tasting sweet, like almond and vanilla and with a slightly sharp edge. The leaves can be eaten one their own raw as a taster when out in the woods but aren’t prepared as a green vegetable as their close relation Cleavers can be. Leaves are usually dried before use as this intensifies the flavour and you can simply add a couple into a drink and infuse it for an hour before drinking, this works well with apple juice.
The strongest traditional use for Woodruff is in Germany, particularly on the banks of the Rhine where it is a large component of Maibowle or May punch, however this practice is no longer encouraged. It is also used to create Waldmeistersirup, a cordial for making long summer drinks, cocktails, pouring over desserts or flavouring milk based creations like panna cotta and custard. You can also simply add leaves into these dishes to gain the flavour, a lot simpler than making syrup!
How to Identify Sweet Woodruff
Often found growing in mats on the woodland floor, it grows upright with a sturdy stem with long pointed leaves in the form of whorls going around the stem. It flowers in late spring (usually May) and has small white flowers found in loose clusters only at the top of the stem.
Potential dangers and misidentification
As noted above, Sweet Woodruff contains Coumarin, traditionally it was used in herbal medecines for this very reason but it can cause internal bleeding, particularly of the stomach and so is best avoided in large quantities. There are few similar plants which you will find growing in the same conditions, Cleavers is the most likely. However it has the Velcro-like hooks which Sweet Woodruff lacks, and if you do happen to collect a bit of both then no harm will be done as Cleavers is an edible green.
***A NOTE OF CAUTION***
Foraging and hunting for wild food is a potentially hazardous activity.
Whilst we do our best to make sure these species and wild food guides are as accurate as possible there is ALWAYS the possibility of the user (or the author…) misidentifying a plant or other item, and the descriptions given might also apply to similar toxic plants.
Common names cannot be relied upon as they change from region to region, and there are some similar names for very different plants. When researching species on the internet you can sometimes find a common name referring to a completely different species to the one you are trying to learn about.
You should always be confident of the identification of a plant, fungus or lichen BEFORE you touch it and especially before you put it anywhere near your mouth.
The best way to do that is by checking with a good wild flower key or identification book, and ideally cross-referencing between more than one book.
Or – as all of the cool people say: Never Munch on a Hunch.
Richard is a UK wilderness skills and outdoor safety instructor with over a decade of experience working on expeditions, in SAR, training the military and emergency services.
A passionate forager, hunter, angler and outdoorsman, he has appeared on television and web series numerous times, and is a regular contributor to podcasts, magazines and other publications.
We work with nature.
We deliver expert foraging and wild food training as part of our wider work managing habitats in North Wales.
Every single one of our courses and events feeds back into improving those habitats, helping to provide healthy ecosystems for our local wildlife and communities.