Stellaria cuspidata
Mexican chickweed, Mexican starwort
decumbent, much-branched, 4-sided, 15–70 cm, softly glandular-pubescent.
petiolate (proximal) or sessile (distal), flaccid;
blade ovate to deltate, 1–4.5 cm × 6–28 mm, base cordate, truncate, or rarely abruptly rounded, margins entire, apex acuminate, glabrous, rarely ciliate on margins.
terminal, (3–)5–35-flowered cymes;
bracts sessile, foliaceous, lanceolate to ovate, 3–30 mm, distally reduced.
ascending to spreading, sometimes deflexed in fruit, slender, 5–20(–30) mm, softly glandular.
3–8 mm diam.;
sepals 5, with prominent midrib, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4–5 mm, to 8 mm in fruit, margins narrow, scarious, apex acuminate, blunt, pubescent on midrib, ± ciliate on margins;
petals 4–5, 2–8 mm, shorter than to 2 times as long as sepals, blade apex deeply emarginate with 2 narrow lobes;
stamens 3–8;
styles 3, ascending, outwardly curved, 1.5–3 mm.
green, transparent, ovoid, 4–6 mm, ± equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6 valves, recurved at tip;
carpophore absent.
reddish brown, round, 1–1.2 mm diam., covered with prominent, stalked glands.
= 26, 52.
Stellaria cuspidata
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Petal length, along with sepal and capsule size and shape, vary in the two subspecies. Although they appear to be distinct in the southern United States, in Mexico where their ranges overlap, plants of uncertain identification are frequently encountered.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals 5-8 mm, 1.5-2 times as long as sepals; sepals narrowly lanceolate, apex acuminate, 7-8 mm in fruit; montane | subsp. cuspidata |
1. Petals 2-4 mm, equaling or shorter than sepals; sepals ovate-lanceolate, 4-5 mm in fruit; lowlands | subsp. prostrata |
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