Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands

Common name: Lievevrouwebedstro, Sweet woodruff

Family: Rubiaceae (Madder family)

Distribution: Europe, N Africa

Life form: Perennial

Comments: Medieval Plants Tour - In pre-Christian times this herb was probably called ‘bedstraw’ and was linked to Freya, the German goddess of birth, fertility and love. Freya protected infants, which is why this plant was often laid in a baby’s crib. It also has a very sweet scent. Dutch medieval missionaries wanted to rid the plant of its heathen connotations, and christened the plant ‘Lievevrouwebedstro’, or ‘Our Lady’s bedstraw’, after the Virgin Mary, who would henceforth protect children from evil. Mary herself was supposed to have slept in a bed of sweet woodruff when she was a child, and was alleged to have laid the herb in the manger next to the Baby Jesus, where it spontaneously began to flower. In the Middle Ages adults also put this herb in their beds, for the sweet smell and as protection against disease. Sweet woodruff was thought to banish the malicious ‘odours’ that supposedly transmitted diseases.