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crisp sandwort, crisp starwort, crisped starwort, curled starwort, ruffled starwort

star chickweed

Habit Plants perennial, forming small to large mats, from slender rhizomes. Plants perennial, with stems loosely tufted, rhizomatous.
Stems

trailing to ascending, branched, 4-angled, 10–60 cm, glabrous.

erect, branched, 4-sided, 10–40 cm, with alternating lines of spreading, soft, flexuous, mainly eglandular hairs.

Leaves

subsessile;

blade broadly elliptic to ovate, 0.4–2.6 cm × 2–15 mm, base round to cuneate, margins entire, apex acuminate, glabrous or with a few scattered cilia.

usually sessile (distal), often short-petiolate (proximal);

blade elliptic, obovate, or lanceolate, widest at or beyond middle, 1–10 cm × 5–35 mm, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, glabrous to sparsely pubescent adaxially, ciliate on margins and abaxial midrib.

Inflorescences

with flowers solitary in leaf axils;

bracts absent.

terminal, 3–70-flowered cymes;

bracts elliptic to lanceolate, 7–65 mm, herbaceous.

Pedicels

ascending, straight, mostly 5–30 mm, glabrous.

erect in flower, often deflexed at base in fruit, 5–40 mm, softly pubescent.

Flowers

4–5 mm;

sepals 5, prominently 3-veined, lanceolate, 2–4 mm, margins broadly scarious, apex acute to acuminate, glabrous;

petals usually absent, rarely 1–5 and much shorter than sepals;

stamens 10 or fewer;

styles 3, spreading to ascending, curved but not curled, ca. 1 mm.

(8–)10–12 mm diam.;

sepals 5, with midrib, ovate, 3.5–6 mm, margins narrow, scarious, apex obtuse to acute, softly and often sparsely pubescent;

petals 5, 4–8 mm, longer than sepals;

stamens 10;

styles 3, ascending, 2.5 mm.

Capsules

straw colored or brownish, ovoid to ovoid-ellipsoid, 3.5–6 mm, equaling or slightly exceeding sepals, apex broadly acute, opening by 6 valves;

carpophore absent.

green to straw colored, broadly ovoid, 3.5–5.5 mm, ca. equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6 valves;

carpophore absent.

Seeds

brown, broadly elliptic, 0.7–1 mm (longest axis), distinctly rugose.

brown, obliquely reniform, 1.5–2 mm diam., coarsely sulcate-papillate.

2n

= 26, 52.

= 30.

Stellaria crispa

Stellaria pubera

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Wet soil in woods, shaded streambanks and shores Rich deciduous woods, alluvial bottomlands
Elevation 0-2300 m (0-7500 ft) 100-1000 m (300-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; DC; FL; GA; IN; KY; MD; NC; NE; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Stellaria pubera has been introduced in Nebraska and possibly in Illinois. It is very similar to S. corei but is distinguished by its shorter, more ovate sepals.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 104. FNA vol. 5, p. 112.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria
Sibling taxa
S. alaskana, S. alsine, S. americana, S. borealis, S. calycantha, S. corei, S. crassifolia, S. cuspidata, S. dicranoides, S. fontinalis, S. graminea, S. holostea, S. humifusa, S. irrigua, S. littoralis, S. longifolia, S. longipes, S. media, S. neglecta, S. nitens, S. obtusa, S. pallida, S. palustris, S. parva, S. porsildii, S. pubera, S. ruscifolia, S. umbellata
S. alaskana, S. alsine, S. americana, S. borealis, S. calycantha, S. corei, S. crassifolia, S. crispa, S. cuspidata, S. dicranoides, S. fontinalis, S. graminea, S. holostea, S. humifusa, S. irrigua, S. littoralis, S. longifolia, S. longipes, S. media, S. neglecta, S. nitens, S. obtusa, S. pallida, S. palustris, S. parva, S. porsildii, S. ruscifolia, S. umbellata
Synonyms Alsine crispa, S. borealis var. crispa Alsine pubera, Alsine pubera var. tennesseensis
Name authority Chamisso & Schlechtendal: Linnaea 1: 51. (1826) Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 273. (1803)
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