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salt-marsh starwort, saltmarsh stitchwort

lesser chickweed, pale starwort

Habit Plants perennial, forming small to large mats or clumps, from slender rhizomes. Plants annual, usually yellowish green, with slender taproot.
Stems

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

prostrate, much-branched, 4-sided, usually 10–20(–40) cm, glabrous, with single line of hairs along each internode.

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.

petiolate (proximal) or sessile (distal);

blade ovate to elliptic, usually 0.3–1.5 cm × 1–7 mm, base round to cuneate, margins entire, apex shortly acuminate, glabrous or with few cilia on margins and abaxial midrib.

Inflorescences

with flowers solitary in axils of foliage leaves;

bracts absent.

terminal, 3–35-flowered cymes;

bracts lanceolate, 2–10 mm, herbaceous, margins entire.

Pedicels

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

spreading, sometimes deflexed at base in fruit, 1–10 mm, pubescent.

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.

2–3 mm diam.;

sepals 4–5, veins obscure, midrib sometimes present, lanceolate, 3–4 mm, margins narrow, herbaceous, apex acute, pubescent;

petals usually absent;

stamens 1–3 or absent;

anthers gray-violet;

styles 3, ascending, becoming curled, 0.2–0.5 mm.

Capsules

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

carpophore absent.

pale straw colored, ovoid, 2–4(–5) mm, equaling to slightly longer than sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6 valves, outwardly curled at tip;

carpophore absent.

Seeds

pale brown, broadly and obliquely reniform, 0.8–1 mm diam., smooth to slightly rugose.

pale yellowish brown, reniform to round, 0.5–0.9 mm diam., tuberculate;

tubercles prominent, broader than tall, apex obtuse.

2n

= 26.

= 22.

Stellaria humifusa

Stellaria pallida

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Lake shores, beaches, marshes, salt marshes, mainly northern coastal Dunes, sandy waste places, rest areas on interstate highways
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft) 0-1500 m (0-4900 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
AR; AZ; CA; CO; FL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MI; MO; NC; NE; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WV; ON; Mexico; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[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.)

Stellaria pallida is automatically self-pollinated and often cleistogamous. It usually can be distinguished from apetalous forms of S. media by its smaller size, yellowish green color, its small sepals and small, pale seeds. Also the base and tip of the sepals occasionally are dark-red pigmented.

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

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 106. FNA vol. 5, p. 111.
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. obtusa, 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 pallida, S. boraeana, S. media subsp. pallida
Name authority Rottbøll: Skr. Kiøbenhavnske Selsk. Laerd. Elsk. 10: 447, plate 4, fig. 14. (1770) (Dumortier) Crépin: Man. Fl. Belgique ed. 2, 19. (1866)
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