By Blair Doucette

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May 19, 2025

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We see it time and time again. Mother Nature grows just what we need, just when we need it. Springtime is filled with blood-building and liver-detoxing bright green herbs/weeds. Many spring greens help us shake the winter off and give us the energy to head into the hot and heavy summer. Cleavers is one of those herbs that look like weeds but work like magic. Lining many gardens, this little, unassuming plant is an excellent water purifier for your body. It helps cleanse the lymphatic system and the kidneys, and is especially helpful at relieving pain during urinary tract infections.  

Common name: Cleavers

Latin name: Galium aparine

Part Used: Aerial parts, during flowering, before going to seed

Benefits: Mineral-rich, lymphatic support, blood cleanser

Taste: Salty, Moist, Mild, “Green”, Sweet 

Energetics: Cooling, Relaxing, Moistening in the short-term, and Astringent in the long-term

History:

Cleavers has a long history as a plant medicine in North America as well as parts of Europe. It’s also a favorite among deer! In the spring, when does are giving birth to fawns, they look for beds of cleavers. This is for their plushy texture and sweet, straw-like scent that masks their own to help avoid predators. Because of this, Indigenous American groups considered cleavers to be “Deer Medicine,” and considered it a remedy that relates specifically to the nerves, artists, and beauty. In Greece, a 1st-century Greek physician, Dioscorides, prescribed it for weariness. Greek shepherds and Swedish dairy farmers used dried cleavers to fashion sieves through which they would strain their herds’ milk. 

 

Cleavers has many nicknames, one of them being Lady’s Bedstraw. During medieval times, it was used both to stuff mattresses and to throw about the floor to cover unpleasant odors. 

Benefits:

Mineral-Rich: Cleavers, like many mineral-rich plants (stinging nettle), taste a little bit salty.

 

Alterative:

When an herb is considered an alterative, it’s considered to open the body’s natural detoxification pathways and promote metabolic waste elimination. It does this through diuretic mechanisms and supports the kidneys, urinary tract, and lymphatic systems to “clean house!”

 

Lymphatic Support/Mover: 

Cleavers is known as a lymphagogue, which means it stimulates the lymphatic system to produce and move more lymph. In this way, it acts as a soothing or cooling relaxant diuretic. It is therefore very beneficial for inflamed UTIs with symptoms of burning upon urination and swollen lymph nodes around the groin region. 

 

Nervous-system support: 

While not considered a calmative agent for the nervous system, cleavers may still support it by combating inflammatory nerve conditions. Cleavers are often used alongside other nervine herbs, such as oat straw or lemon balm, for those presenting with nervousness or excess sympathetic nervous system activity. 

Emotional Aspects of Cleavers:

Cleavers is associated with emotional attachments, boundaries, and letting go. They clear negative or heavy energies and stagnant emotions and behaviors to balance emotional well-being. Cleavers is aptly named, in that as a plant, it cleaves or clings to passersby. As an emotional plant medicine, they do the opposite in that they help untangle and let go of emotional baggage. 

How To Use Fresh Herbs: 

1. Add to any cooked or stewed meal just as you would with any other herb.

1. Make cleavers tea
2. Incorporate fresh cleavers into apple cider vinegar for salad dressings. Just take one part fresh cleavers and submerge them in two parts apple cider vinegar. Then, use the vinegar in place of lemon juice when making your dressing. 
3. Blend with a small amount of water to make a juice to drink or to soothe sunburnt skin.
4. Add to a green smoothie. Cleavers have a mild flavor, so they’re an excellent green to add. Green Smoothie with Cleavers by Jennifer Prentice at My Healthy Homemade LifeIngredients
   • 2 cups water
   • 1 cup chopped fresh cleavers
   • 1/2 cup fresh chopped pineapple
   • 1/2 cup chopped fresh mango
   • 1/2- 1 frozen banana (frozen in chunks)
   • 1 tbsp chia seeds

   Instructions

   •  Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately

 

Want to learn more about herbs? Check out some of our other Herbs of the Month:

 

April Herb of the Month: Lemon Balm, The Herb That “Makes The Heart Merry”

March’s Herb of the Month: Violet

February Herb of the Month: Hawthorn, the Herb of the Heart

January Herb of the Month: Fennel, A Natural Way To Avoid Gas and Bloating