title: Cruciata pedemontana
text: # Cruciata pedemontana
  
  Cruciata pedemontana, the Piedmont bedstraw, is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae. It is native to the southern and central Europe, the Black Sea Basin, and southwestern and Central Asia from Turkey to Iran to Kazakhstan. It is also naturalized in parts of the United States (south-central and eastern parts from Texas to New York, plus the northwest from Washington and Oregon to Montana).
  
  Cruciata pedemontana is an erect herb up to 30 cm (12 in), covered with stiff hairs. Leaves are broadly ovate, usually four per node. Flowers are tiny, rarely more than 1 mm (0.039 in) across, axillary, pale yellow.
  
  ## Varieties
  
  Two varieties are recognized (as of May 2014):
  
  * Cruciata pedemontana var. pedemontana
  * Cruciata pedemontana var. procumbens (Asch.) Soó - France and Italy (including Corsica and Sardinia)
  