Galium album is widespread over much of Europe, being native to a large region from Britain to Morocco, east to Turkey and Western Siberia. It is naturalized in Ireland, Scandinavia, Greenland and South Australia.It is found in pastures, grassy banks, etc., especially on dry calcareous soils. In Britain G. album is local in lowland England, rare in the north and very rare in Scotland.

Four subspecies are currently (May 2014) recognized:

Galium album subsp. album - most of the range of the species
Galium album subsp. prusense (K.Koch) Ehrend. & Krendl - Greece, Bulgaria, Crimea, Turkey, Caucasus
Galium album subsp. pycnotrichum (Heinr. Braun) Kren - from Poland south to Greece and Turkey
Galium album subsp. suberectum (Klokov) Michalk - Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine

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