Wild Madder

The stem is woody, hairless, square and climbing and reaches on average 50–250 centimetres (20–98 in) long. The evergreen leaves are sessile, glossy, leathery, oval-lanceolate and toothed on the margins. They are arranged in whorls, usually with five or more leaves radiating from a single node. The small flowers have five petals and are pale green-yellowish, about 5–7 mm in diameter, arranged at the top of long stalks. The flowering period extends from April through June. The hermaphroditic flowers are pollinated by insects (entomogamy). The fruits are fleshy green berries, black when ripe, about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter.

It is mainly present in Mediterranean Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and former Yugoslavia), in Great Britain and in North Africa.

The genus name Rubia derives from the Latin ruber meaning "red", as the roots of some species (mainly Rubia tinctorum) have been used since ancient times as a vegetable red dye. The specific epithet is the Latin adjective peregrinus, -a, -um meaning "foreign, alien, exotic, strange."