Stellaria

Last updated

Stellaria
Greater Stitchwort close 800.jpg
Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Stellaria
L. (1753), nom. cons.
Synonyms [1]
List
  • AlsineTourn. ex L.
  • AlsinulaDostál
  • BallarionRaf.
  • BaretiaTimaná
  • BigelowiaRaf.
  • Fimbripetalum(Turcz.) Ikonn.
  • HylebiaFourr.
  • LarbreaA.St.-Hil.
  • LeucostemmaBenth. ex G.Don
  • MalachiaFr.
  • MicropetalonPers.
  • MyosanthusDesv.
  • MyosotonMoench
  • PlettkeaMattf.
  • PycnophyllopsisSkottsb.
  • SpergulastrumMichx.
  • StellulariaHill
  • TytthostemmaNevski

Stellaria is a genus of about 190 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include starwort, [2] stitchwort and chickweed.

Contents

Description

Stellaria species are relatively small herbs with simple opposite leaves. It produces small flowers with 5 sepals and 5 white petals each usually deeply cleft, or none at all, all free. Stamens 10 or fewer. [3] [4]

Uses

Some species, including Stellaria media which is widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, are used as leaf vegetables, often raw in salads. This is a favored food of finches and many other seed-eating birds.

Chickweeds are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including angle shades, heart and dart, riband wave, setaceous Hebrew character and the Coleophora case-bearers C. coenosipennella (feeds exclusively on Stellaria species), C. lineolea (recorded on S. graminea), C. lithargyrinella (recorded on S. holostea), C. solitariella (feeds exclusively on S. holostea) and C. striatipennella.

Several closely related plants referred to as chickweed, but which lack the culinary properties of plants in the genus Stellaria, include members of the genus Cerastium , of similar appearance to Stellaria and also in the (Caryophyllaceae).

Species

Lesser stitchwort, Stellaria graminea Lesser Stitchwort close 800.jpg
Lesser stitchwort, Stellaria graminea

The following species are recognised in the genus Stellaria: [1]

Formerly placed here

References

  1. 1 2 "Stellaria L. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  2. ↑ NRCS. "Stellaria". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN   978-185918-4783
  4. ↑ Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. ISBN   0-521-04656-4
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.