Cleavers – One of the Best Cleansing and Detoxifying Herbs

Cleavers is not only a great addition to a spring cleansing formula, it is also an excellent herb for treating chronic inflammatory conditions such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and gout

During the winter, our metabolism tends to speed up to help us adapt to lower temperatures and our body naturally craves more fatty and calorie intensive foods to meet our metabolic needs and provide a bit of extra insulation. Any accumulation of fat in our body can potentially result in an increased accumulation of toxicity from various sources in our tissues.

With the arrival of spring our body naturally craves a lighter diet that is rich in the young green vegetables that are the first fresh foods available in our region. As spring changes to summer, numerous berries and eventually other fruits and vegetables become available as well.

These dietary changes along with an increase in activity help our body to throw off excess fatty tissue that has built up over the winter along with accumulated toxicity. This is very important because tissue toxicity is one of the major contributing factors to chronic inflammatory conditions. This process is part of the natural cycle of the seasons. The more we honor it, the more we will be living in harmony with the natural cycles of our body and our region.

The Importance of Lymphatic Cleansing in Spring

The natural cleansing process that our body undergoes every spring puts a greater amount of stress on eliminative organs and organ systems that are responsible for removing waste products and toxins. Much has been written about the importance of the liver as an organ of detoxification, however our liver does not work alone.

One of the most important eliminatory channels is our lymphatic system. This system is responsible for collecting excess fluid that accumulates in our tissues along with any toxins and waste products that are eliminated by our cells. Once absorbed into the lymphatic vessels, this fluid is called lymphatic fluid or simply lymph.

The lymphatic system is responsible for returning the lymph back to our blood so that fluid does not accumulate in our tissues and its toxins and waste products can be delivered to the organs that will break them down and/or eliminate them from our body. However, before lymph is returned to the blood it must pass through a series of lymph nodes where microorganisms, abnormal cells, cellular debris and many toxins are filtered out by millions of immune cells that are concentrated in these organs.

If our lymphatic system is not functioning properly, the capacity of our body to remove toxins and waste products from our tissues and ultimately from our body can become impaired.

To maintain the health of our lymphatic system it is essential to eat a good, natural diet, preferably organic as much as possible. Of particular importance are fresh fruits and vegetables. These are rich in polyphenols and other important antioxidant plant pigments important for the health of our lymphatic (and blood) vessels. On the other hand, eating excessive amounts of fatty, mucus-forming and heavily processed foods tends to reduce lymphatic flow.

It is also impossible to ensure adequate lymphatic drainage without sufficient exercise. This should include both regular aerobic exercise and lots of gentle exercise such as walking. Drinking plenty of clean water is also important.

A healthy lymphatic system also requires that we eliminate sources of toxicity from our diet and lifestyle as much as possible. Toxins not only increase the workload on the this system, they can damage lymphatic vessels and tissues.

Herbal Tonics for Lymphatic Cleansing

Many herbs are traditionally recognized as lymphatic tonics or lymphatics. Herbal liver tonics are often recommended for spring cleansing, but lymphatic herbs are sometimes neglected. In spite of that, the effectiveness of many of the detoxifying herbs that are recommended as liver tonics is often partly due to their influence on the lymphatic system as well. This is true of many of our common cleansing herbs such as dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), burdock (Arctium spp.), yellow dock (Rumex crispus), and red clover (Trifolium pratense).

There are many important cleansing herbs that are effective lymphatics. One of my favorite of these is cleavers (Galium aparine). Cleavers is a member of a group of herbs from the genus Galium that is more commonly known as bedstraw because they were once used to stuff pillows and mattresses.

All of the bedstraws are effective lymphatic herbs. Cleavers is probably the best known and most popular of the bedstraw species. Some of the other important members of this genus include fragrant bedstraw (G. triflorum), smooth bedstraw (G. mollugo), sweet woodruff (G. odoratum) and yellow bedstraw (G. verum).

Cleavers is a circumboreal species (it is native to the temperate regions of the entire northern hemisphere). Fragrant bedstraw is a native species that grows in open woodlands. Smooth and yellow bedstraw are European species that have become naturalized in Ontario. They both grow in open fields and transition areas. Sweet woodruff is also a European species that is sometimes planted as a ground cover in shady areas. It occasionally occurs as a garden escape.

All of these species are used similar to cleavers, however the other bedstraw species mentioned here have a higher level of volatile oil than cleavers and are more aromatic. As a result, they have a stronger action on our digestive and nervous systems than cleavers.

Seeking and Harvesting Cleavers

With such a short life cycle this means that the ideal window for harvesting this herb is about 8 to 10 days

Cleavers is a native of both North America and Eurasia. It grows in open woodlands and transition areas where it gets shade most of the day and the soil is relatively moist but not wet. It grows from two to four feet high, has leaves that grow in whorls (a circular pattern from a common point on the stem) of usually eight leaves, and has tiny white or greenish white flowers.

Unlike the other perennial Galium species mentioned above, cleavers is an annual with a very short life cycle. In our region it tends to sprout in late April, although sometimes if there is a long warm fall cleavers will sprout in the late fall and the tiny plants will overwinter under the snow and start growing in April when it warms up. It flowers for a couple of weeks in late May or early June and by late June or early July it has produced seeds and completely died back.

With such a short life cycle it doesn’t give the plant time to develop much of a root system, certainly not one that can support a plant that grows up to four feet tall. As a result, cleavers has developed some interesting adaptions. Rather than waste energy growing an extensive root system or a strong stem that can hold it up, cleavers has a weak stem with many tiny bristles on it's stem and leaves that allow it to cling to other plants that grow around it.

If we walk through a patch of cleavers it readily sticks to our clothing. This is how it got its name. Its root system is so shallow that when it sticks to a person or animal passing through it will usually rip the whole plant out of the ground. These adaptions allow the plant to grow very quickly while utilizing a minimum amount of energy, and to transport its seeds on animals and people.

The kind of habitats that cleavers prefers are very common. Sometimes it will grow in profusion in an area for several years and then the next year there will be little or none at all. It may be many years before it comes back again. However, for some reason since the early 2000s it has become very common – almost invasive – in open woodland areas of the river valleys flowing north of Lake Ontario that I visit. I don't travel everywhere and don't know how common this is.

It used to be much more common in the river valleys flowing north from Lake Erie. It may still be (I don't go down there much any more) and possibly the reason it is becoming more common north of Lake Ontario is because our winters have been getting milder. There is also an understanding that sometimes when a plant becomes extremely prolific in an area it is because of how we humans are disturbing the environment. It might be that cleavers is helping to correct some kind of imbalance that we are creating.

One of the challenges of harvesting cleavers is that it must be harvested from the beginning to the middle of its flowering period. With such a short life cycle this means that the ideal window for harvesting this herb is about 8 to 10 days. To complicate matters, the timing of the flowering period of cleavers can vary by as much as three weeks from year to year depending on the weather. It tends to flower earlier in a dryer and/or warmer spring, and later when it is cooler and/or wetter.

It is therefore necessary to find our potential harvesting areas as early as possible and watch them very carefully so that we are ready to harvest cleavers at the right time. There have been years in the past when I have arrived a week or two early or late. If we miss it, we have to wait a year before we can harvest it again. Fortunately, cleavers is a lot more common than it used to be in this area and this is less likely to happen.

When harvesting cleavers it is important to pick all of the plant that is green, usually about 75 to 85% of the plant. The bottom portion will tend to be yellow and is of little medicinal value. Normally we do not harvest this much of an herb, but cleavers has such a short life cycle that harvesting a more typical amount (e.g. 25 to 40% of the aerial parts of the plant) will not allow it time to produce additional flowers and reproduce itself. Therefore, for ethical and ecological reasons we harvest as much of the plant as possible so that we don’t need to harvest as many plants.

Because cleavers has a weak succulent stalk, the medicinal potency of the stalk is very similar to the leaves. As a result, we can use the entire harvested portion of this herb, unlike most other herbs for which it is necessary to discard the stalk because it is less potent than the leaves and flowers. However, cleavers is significantly less potent when it is dried. Therefore we only use fresh herb preparations.

Cleavers Medicine for Cleansing and Detoxifying

The most convenient and readily available way to use this herb is in the form of tinctures made from the fresh herb. It can also be used as a fresh juice. Since the plant can only be juiced for about one week per year, the juice can be stored by freezing it in ice cube trays and then popping out the cubes and storing them in the freezer in plastic bags. In this way it can be used similar to wheat grass juice, but cleavers juice is considerably more detoxifying.

Cleavers is one of our best detoxifying lymphatic herbs. It is not only a great addition to a general cleansing formula such as one that we might use for a spring cleanse, it is also an excellent herb for treating any chronic inflammatory condition such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and gout. It has even been used as part of a broader treatment for certain types of cancer, especially lymphatic cancers.

Part of the reason that cleavers is such an excellent detoxifying herb is because, in addition to it's action on the lymphatic system, it supports other channels of elimination as well. Cleavers is an excellent herb for the urinary system thereby increasing the amount of toxicity excreted in our urine. It also mildly stimulates our liver. As a lymphatic, cleavers is beneficial for the treatment of both chronic lymphatic conditions and acute inflammation of our lymph nodes.

The role of the lymphatic system extends beyond detoxification. It also works together with our immune system. As a result, immune stimulating herbs are also more effective when combined with lymphatics and it is best to include lymphatic herbs in immune stimulating formulations and in systemic formulations for any kind of infection. Cleavers is an excellent herb in these kinds of applications and is particulary synergistic with the purple coneflower (Echinacea) species.

The effectiveness of cleavers as an urinary herb makes it suitable for inclusion in formulations for urinary tract (including prostate) inflammation, incontinence, urinary tract infections (combined with antimicrobial herbs), and even urinary stones when combined with herbs that are more specifically for stones such as Joe-Pye root (Eutrochium maculatum or E. purpureum), Queen Ann’s lace herb or root (Daucus carota), and marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis).

Cleavers is also beneficial for the health of our blood vessels. It can be used both topically and internally for the treatment of bruises, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, and may even be helpful in the treatment of more serious vascular conditions. However, although cleavers is effective in these situations, specifically for conditions of the blood vessels, I have found smooth and yellow bedstraw to be more effective.

Cleavers is a very safe herb and can easily be taken over a period of several months without any reason for concern. However, like all detoxifying herbs cleavers is not recommended during pregnancy and lactation as these are not appropriate times for detoxifying. This can lead to a release of toxins stored in a woman’s tissues into her blood which could potentially have a negative influence on the health of her developing or nursing child.

Compared to other more showy species, cleavers is a relatively plain and inconspicuous herb. Most people would never notice it unless they got some stuck on their clothing. Nevertheless, this is clearly a case where looks can be deceiving. What may go unnoticed to some can be a very a powerful medicine for those of us who are willing to take the time to look and learn.