Stellaria obtusa |
Stellaria media |
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Rocky Mountain starwort |
common chickweed |
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Habit | Plants perennial; from slender rhizomes. | Plants annual but often over-wintering; from taproots. |
Stems | generally prostrate, 4–20 cm; internodes glabrous. |
prostrate to erect, 7–50 cm; internode hairs in a line. |
Leaves | evenly spaced; ovate to elliptic, 5–12 mm, not fleshy; margins not papillate, generally flat; shiny, generally ciliate near base. |
evenly spaced; ovate to broadly elliptic, 8–45 mm, not fleshy; margins not papillate; flat; shiny, often ciliate near base. |
Inflorescences | flowers solitary in axils; pedicels ascending in flower, spreading in fruit. |
terminal or axillary; flowers few to many; bracts leafy; pedicels spreading to erect in flower, curved to reflexed in fruit. |
Flowers | sepals 4(5); ovate, 1.5–3.5 mm, generally obtuse, glabrous; margins thinly scarious; veins in fruit 1, obscure; petals 0. |
sepals 5, lanceolate to ovate, 3–4.5 mm; to 6+ mm in fruit; acute to obtuse, glabrous or glandular-hairy; margins widely scarious; veins in fruit often 1 or 3 near base; petals 5, 0.7–0.9 × length of sepals. |
Fruits | globose to globose-ovoid, green or tan. |
ovoid-oblong, green or tan. |
Seeds | 0.6–0.7 mm; grayish black, finely reticulate. |
0.9–1.3 mm, dark red-brown to brown; tubercles rounded. |
2n | =26, 52; ~65; ~78. |
=40, 42, 44. |
Stellaria obtusa |
Stellaria media |
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Distribution | ||
Discussion | Moist areas in meadows and woods, streambanks. Flowering May–Aug. 900–2000 m. BW, Casc. CA, ID, WA; north to British Columbia, northeast to Alberta, east to CO. Native. |
Disturbed areas, cultivated fields, open woods, streambanks. Flowering Feb–Sep. 0–1500 m. BW, Casc, Col, CR, ECas, Est, Sisk, WV. CA, ID, NV, WA; cosmopolitan. Exotic. |
Source | Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 581 Rich Rabeler, Ronald Hartman |
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 581 Rich Rabeler, Ronald Hartman |
Sibling taxa | ||
Web links |
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