Stellaria humifusa |
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salt-marsh starwort, saltmarsh stitchwort |
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Habit | Plants perennial, forming small to large mats or clumps, from slender rhizomes. |
Stems | decumbent, freely branched, square, 2–20 cm, glabrous, rooting at proximal nodes. |
Leaves | sessile; blade elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 0.4–1.5 cm × 1–5 mm, succulent, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, glabrous or with few cilia along margins. |
Inflorescences | with flowers solitary in axils of foliage leaves; bracts absent. |
Pedicels | ascending, straight or nearly so, usually 5–10(–30) mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | ca. 10 mm diam.; sepals 5, prominently 1–3-veined, lanceolate, 4–5 mm, margins convex, narrow, scarious, apex acute, glabrous; petals 5, 4–6 mm, equaling sepals; stamens 10; styles 3, ascending and outwardly curved, 1–1.5 mm. |
Capsules | straw colored, ovoid, 4–5 mm, equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6 valves; carpophore absent. |
Seeds | pale brown, broadly and obliquely reniform, 0.8–1 mm diam., smooth to slightly rugose. |
2n | = 26. |
Stellaria humifusa |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Lake shores, beaches, marshes, salt marshes, mainly northern coastal |
Elevation | 0-100 m (0-300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; ME; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; YT; SPM; Greenland; arctic Europe; Asia (Russian Far East, Siberia)
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Discussion | Stellaria humifusa is often confused with S. crassifolia, but has thicker stems and fleshy leaves that wrinkle and tend to turn brownish when dried. Also, in S. crassifolia the long pedicels are very slender and sharply angled below the capsule. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 106. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Alsine humifusa, S. humifusa var. marginata, S. humifusa var. oblongifolia, S. humifusa var. suberecta |
Name authority | Rottbøll: Skr. Kiøbenhavnske Selsk. Laerd. Elsk. 10: 447, plate 4, fig. 14. (1770) |
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