Importance

A few cleavers can cause lodging, seriously hindering cereal harvest. The large seeds can invade the cereal grain and the moisture can cause drying and storage problems.

1. Cotyledons are large and oblong in shape, with a distinctive notch at the apex of the leaf blade. Sometimes the cotyledons are purple in colour, but dark green is more usual.

2. True leaves arise in whorls or rings around the square stems of the plant and are lance-shaped, covered with sticky hairs.

3. A climbing annual; the whole plant is straggling and sticky.