Stellaria graminea

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Stellaria graminea
Stellaria graminea detail.jpeg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Stellaria
Species:
S. graminea
Binomial name
Stellaria graminea
L.

Stellaria graminea is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names common starwort, [1] grass-leaved stitchwort, [1] lesser stitchwort [2] and grass-like starwort. [3]

Contents

Description

It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing branching stems which are prostrate, sprawling, trailing, or erect, and reach up to about 90 centimeters long. The stems are four-angled, weak, and hairless. It is lined with pairs of linear or lance-shaped leaves, each 1–4 centimetres (0.4–1.6 in) long. The leaves are smooth-edged and hairless except for some hairs lining the bases. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long which are usually lined with hairs. There are five white petals, each so deeply lobed it appears to be two. The seeds are reddish brown in colour and are 1 millimetre (0.04 in) in diameter. [1] It bears 10 stamens. [4]

Distribution

It is native to Eurasia but it is widespread around other parts of the temperate world as an introduced species and a common weed. [5]

Habitat

It grows in many types of habitat, including lawns and roadsides.

Related Research Articles

<i>Stellaria</i> Genus of flowering plants in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

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

<i>Rabelera</i> Species of plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Rabelera holostea, known as greater stitchwort, greater starwort, and addersmeat, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It was formerly placed in the genus Stellaria, as Stellaria holostea, but was transferred to the genus Rabelera in 2019 based on phylogenetic analyses. It is the only species in the genus Rabelera. Greater stitchwort is native to Western and Central Europe, including the British Isles.

<i>Minuartia stricta</i> Species of flowering plant

Minuartia stricta is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names bog stitchwort, Teesdale sandwort and rock sandwort. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout much of the northernmost Northern Hemisphere from the lower Arctic into the alpine climates of mountainous areas in temperate Eurasia and North America. It grows in several types of habitat, including meadows, marshes, heath, beaches and bars, and arctic and alpine tundra.

<i>Pseudostellaria sierrae</i> Species of flowering plant

Pseudostellaria sierrae is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Sierra starwort.

<i>Silene gallica</i> Species of flowering plant

Silene gallica is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by several common names, including common catchfly, small-flowered catchfly, and windmill pink. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it can be found throughout much of the temperate world as a common roadside weed.

<i>Stellaria borealis</i> Species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria borealis is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name boreal starwort. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring throughout northern areas of the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs in many types of moist and wet habitat, including marshes, riverbanks, lakesides, floodplains, talus, ditches, and moist spots in forests and woodlands. It is quite variable in appearance, especially across subspecies. In general, it is a rhizomatous perennial herb forming mats of branching, four-angled stems lined with lance-shaped leaves a few centimeters in length. The inflorescence bears many flowers each with five deeply lobed white petals. Some flowers lack petals and have only the five pointed green sepals.

<i>Stellaria calycantha</i> Species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria calycantha is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name northern starwort. It is native to western North America from Alaska and northwestern Canada to California and New Mexico, as well as eastern Russia. It occurs in subalpine and alpine climates, in many types of moist, shady habitats. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a prostrate to erect stem up to 25 centimeters long, taking a clumpy form. The thin oval leaves have smooth edges and pointed tips, and measure up to 2.5 centimeters in length. The inflorescence bears one or more flowers, each on a long pedicel. Each flower has five pointed green sepals, and some flowers have up to five deeply lobed white petals.

<i>Stellaria crispa</i> Species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria crispa is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names curled starwort and crisp starwort. It is native to western North America from Alaska south to California and Wyoming, where it grows in moist, shady habitat such as deep forests and streambanks. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a mat of prostrate or trailing stems up to about 40 centimeters long. It is lined with opposite pairs of pointed oval leaves each 1 to 2 centimeters long. Single flowers occur in the leaf axils, each borne on a short pedicel. The flower has five pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. Some flowers have one or more petals, but most lack these.

<i>Stellaria littoralis</i> Species of flowering plant

Stellaria littoralis is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name beach starwort. It is endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area and North Coast of California, where it grows in moist coast habitat, such as marshes, bogs, and coastal bluffs. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing sprawling, branching stems which are four-angled and hairy in texture, reaching up to about 60 centimeters long. The lance-shaped or pointed oval leaves are up to 4.5 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in pairs. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five hairy, pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. There are five white petals, each so deeply lobed it appears to be two.

<i>Stellaria longifolia</i> Species of plant

Stellaria longifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name longleaf starwort. It is native to much of the northern half of the Northern Hemisphere, occurring throughout northern Europe and North America. It grows in many types of moist habitat, including meadows, marshes, and roadsides. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb forming clumps with sprawling, branching stems which are mostly hairless except for tiny rough hairs along the edges of the squarish stem. The linear to lance-shaped leaves are up to 3.5 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in pairs. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. There are five white petals, each so deeply lobed it appears to be two.

<i>Stellaria longipes</i> Species of flowering plant

Stellaria longipes is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names longstalk starwort and Goldie's starwort. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northernmost latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It is a perennial herb that grows in a wide variety of habitat types, including tundra and taiga and many areas farther south with subalpine and alpine climates. It is extremely variable in morphology, its form depending on both genetic makeup and environmental conditions. It has a widely varying number of chromosomes. In general, it is a rhizomatous perennial herb forming mats or clumps, or growing erect. The stems may be short and simple or with sprawling and highly branched. The linear to lance-shaped leaves are usually 1 to 4 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in pairs. The inflorescence bears one or more flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. There are five white petals each divided into two lobes, sometimes shallowly, but often so deeply there appear to be two petals. The plant is gynodioecious, with some flowers having functional male and female reproductive parts and others being only female.

<i>Stellaria nitens</i> Species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria nitens is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names shiny chickweed and shining starwort. It is native to western North America, including British Columbia, Alberta, and the western United States, its distribution extending into Mexico at least as far as Baja California. It grows in many types of habitat, in dry and moist areas, and sometimes in disturbed places. It is an annual herb producing a slender, upright, four-angled stem from a thin taproot, reaching up to about 25 centimeters in height. Most of the leaves are located low on the stem, each measuring up to 1.5 centimeters long, with smaller, narrower leaves occurring above. The leaves are hairless except for some rough hairs along the margins, and the blades have shiny surfaces. The inflorescence bears a few flowers on short pedicels. The flower has five pointed sepals each a few millimeters long. There are sometimes five tiny white petals as well, though these are often absent.

<i>Stellaria obtusa</i> Species of flowering plant

Stellaria obtusa is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names Rocky Mountain chickweed, blunt-sepaled starwort, and obtuse starwort. It is native to western North America, from British Columbia and Alberta to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist areas in forests and on mountain slopes.

Stellaria irrigua is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names umbrella starwort and umbellate starwort. It is native to western North America from Alaska and north-western Canada to the south-western United States, as well as parts of Asia, including Siberia. It grows in subalpine and alpine climates in mountain forests and riverbanks. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a slender prostrate stem up to about 20 centimeters long, sometimes forming clumps or mats. The stem is lined with pairs of oval leaves each up to about 2 centimeters long. The inflorescence is an umbel-shaped array of several flowers each on an arching or erect pedicels. The flower has five pointed green sepals each no more than 3 millimeters long. There are occasionally tiny white petals within the calyx of sepals, but these are generally absent.

Stellaria porsildii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Porsild's starwort. It is native to Arizona, where it can be found in the Chiricahua Mountains, and New Mexico, where it is known from one mountain.

<i>Stellaria nemorum</i> Species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria nemorum, also known by the common name wood stitchwort, is a stoloniferous herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae.

Pseudostellaria oxyphylla, the robust starwort or Robinson's starwort, is a rare plant species endemic to Idaho, known only from Kootenai and Shoshone Counties. It grows along streambanks in conifer forests at elevations of 800–900 m.

<i>Stellaria alsine</i> Species of flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae

Stellaria alsine, the bog stitchwort, is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae. It grows in bogs and marshes in Europe and parts of North America.

<i>Stellaria pungens</i> Species of plant

Stellaria pungens, commonly known as prickly starwort, is a flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a small, mat forming perennial with white star-shaped flowers and small sharply pointed, bright green leaves.

Stellaria corei, with the common names of Tennessee chickweed, star chickweed, Tennessee starwort, and Tennessee stitchwort, is a species of flowering plant native to parts of Eastern USA.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Stellaria graminea". Flora of North America. EFlora. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Stellaria graminea". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  4. Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN   978-185918-4783.
  5. "Stellaria graminea". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 18 June 2007.