About Rubia peregrina L.
Rubia peregrina L. has a woody, hairless, square climbing stem that typically grows 50 to 250 centimetres (20 to 98 inches) long. Its evergreen leaves are sessile, glossy, leathery, and oval-lanceolate, with toothed margins. Leaves are arranged in whorls, usually with five or more leaves growing out from a single node. Small pale green-yellowish flowers have five petals, measure around 5 to 7 millimetres in diameter, and grow at the top of long stalks. This species flowers from April through June. The flowers are hermaphroditic and are pollinated by insects through entomogamy. Fruits are fleshy green berries that turn black when ripe, and are approximately 5 millimetres (0.20 inches) in diameter. Rubia peregrina L. is mainly distributed across Mediterranean Europe (including Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and former Yugoslavia), Great Britain, and North Africa. It is a stress-resistant weed characteristic of Mediterranean scrub. It grows in thickets, bushes, hedges, stony ground, and alongside roads and paths, and prefers dry soils at altitudes between 0 and 1,000 metres (0 and 3,281 feet) above sea level.
