Botanical atlas
Field Madder
Sherardia arvensis
This plant is kept in the atlas for identification and safety, not for use. Read the safety notes below before handling it, and keep it away from children, cats, and food.
Field madder is a small, humble cousin of the great dye and medicine plants of the madder family, standing in the shadow of true madder, Rubia tinctorum, and the beloved cleavers, Galium aparine. It grows low and unassuming along field edges and garden paths, its whorled leaves and pinprick lilac flowers easy to walk right past. Old-world naturalists and herbalists took note of it mostly as a botanical curiosity and a marker of well-worked soil, rather than as a plant with a remedy of its own. It never earned the dye vats or the apothecary shelf that its relatives did, so its story is really a footnote to the wider madder family's long, colorful history.
Safety.
Field madder is not known to be toxic, but it has no established tradition of medicinal use, so no preparation or dosage is recommended here.
Our sister app HerbLens identifies field madder from a photo and keeps its full botanical portrait: growing guide, harvest notes, and look-alike warnings.
View on HerbLensHerbSense shares traditional herbal knowledge for education, not diagnosis or treatment. Herbs can interact with medicines and conditions. Speak with your doctor before acting on anything here, and seek care promptly for anything severe, sudden, or worsening.