Stellaria humifusa |
Stellaria pallida |
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salt-marsh starwort, saltmarsh stitchwort |
lesser chickweed, pale starwort |
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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 |
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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 |
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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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]
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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.) |
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 | ||
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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