Asperula or Yasmenik

Family Rubiaceae. The genus includes about 90 species distributed in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Annual or perennial plants, sometimes with woody bases of the stems. Leaves whorled, made up of eight lanceolate segments, rarely oppositely arranged. Flowers small, white, red or pink, gathered in axillary, umbel-like inflorescences on short pedicels. The corolla is tubular with four petals. The fruit is a double achene.

Location: grow well in sunny positions, tolerate partial shade. In shade they become leggy and flop.

Soil: the plants are not demanding about soil, but they grow better and faster in light, loose, well-aerated, humus-rich soil.

Propagation: by pieces of rhizomes or pieces of sod. Division and transplantation are carried out early in spring, as soon as new shoots begin to grow, or at the end of summer. Propagation is also possible with freshly collected seeds, sown in autumn, but seeds sometimes germinate only after several years.