Ladies Bedstraw

This plant is so interesting.  It has many culinary and medicinal uses and has been used since medieval times as a poultice for wounds and even to treat epilepsy.  But it gets its name for its use as a stuffing for mattresses to help keep fleas at bay.  It has fascinating legends surrounding it too. The plant’s use as a mattress filling was especially recommended for women in childbirth, particularly in Scandinavia, from which it got its local name Frigg’s grass (Frigg being the Norse goddess of childbirth).  One legend has it that the Virgin Mary lay on a bed of bracken and bedstraw to give birth.  Gift#190: I learned something new today.