The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

salt-marsh starwort, saltmarsh stitchwort

blunt-sepal starwort, obtuse starwort, Rocky Mountain chickweed, Rocky Mountain starwort

Habit Plants perennial, forming small to large mats or clumps, from slender rhizomes. Plants perennial, creeping, often matted but not forming cushions, rhizomatous.
Stems

decumbent, freely branched, square, 2–20 cm, glabrous, rooting at proximal nodes.

prostrate, branched, 4-sided, 3–23 cm, internodes equaling or longer than leaves, glabrous, rarely pilose.

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.

sessile or short-petiolate;

blade broadly ovate to elliptic, 0.2–1.2 cm × 0.9–7 mm, base round or cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, shiny, glabrous or ciliate near base.

Inflorescences

with flowers solitary in axils of foliage leaves;

bracts absent.

with flowers solitary, axillary;

bracts absent.

Pedicels

ascending, straight or nearly so, usually 5–10(–30) mm, glabrous.

spreading, 3–12 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.

1.5–2 mm diam.;

sepals 4–5, veins obscure, midrib sometimes apparent, ± ovate, 1.5–3.5 mm, margins narrow, scarious, apex ± obtuse, glabrous;

petals absent;

stamens 10 or fewer;

styles 3(–4), curled, shorter than 0.5 mm.

Capsules

straw colored, ovoid, 4–5 mm, equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6 valves;

carpophore absent.

green to pale straw colored, translucent, globose to broadly ovoid, 2.3–3.5 mm, 1.9–2 times as long as 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.

grayish black, broadly elliptic, 0.5–0.7 mm diam., finely reticulate.

2n

= 26.

= 26, 52, ca. 65, ca. 78.

Stellaria humifusa

Stellaria obtusa

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Lake shores, beaches, marshes, salt marshes, mainly northern coastal Moist areas in woods, shaded edges of creeks, talus slopes
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft) 300-3400 m (1000-11200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; ME; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; YT; SPM; Greenland; arctic Europe; Asia (Russian Far East, Siberia)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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. FNA vol. 5, p. 110.
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. crispa, S. cuspidata, S. dicranoides, S. fontinalis, S. graminea, S. holostea, 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. pallida, S. palustris, S. parva, S. porsildii, S. pubera, S. ruscifolia, S. umbellata
Synonyms Alsine humifusa, S. humifusa var. marginata, S. humifusa var. oblongifolia, S. humifusa var. suberecta Alsine obtusa, Alsine viridula, Alsine washingtoniana, S. viridula, S. washingtoniana
Name authority Rottbøll: Skr. Kiøbenhavnske Selsk. Laerd. Elsk. 10: 447, plate 4, fig. 14. (1770) Engelmann: Bot. Gaz. 7: 5. (1882)
Web links