Stellaria longipes
Stellaria graminea
Goldie's starwort, long-stalk starwort
common or grass-leaf stitchwort or starwort, common starwort, common stitchwort, grass-leaf starwort, grass-leaf stitchwort, grass-like starwort, mouron des champs
erect to straggling, branched or not, 4-angled, 3–32 cm, glabrous or softly pubescent, angles not minutely papillate-scabrid.
decumbent or ascending, straggling, diffusely branched, smoothly 4-angled, 20–90 cm, brittle, glabrous.
sessile;
blade green, frequently glaucous, 1–3-veined, midrib prominent, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, widest at base, 0.4–2.6(–4) cm × 1–4 mm, strongly coriaceous or not, base round, margins entire, convex, glabrous or ciliate, apex acute to acuminate, not spinescent, shiny, smooth, glabrous or sparingly villous, base usually glabrous, rarely with few cilia.
sessile;
blade linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, widest near base, 1.5–4 cm × 1–6 mm, base round, margins smooth, apex acute, often ciliate near base, otherwise glabrous, not glaucous.
with flowers solitary, or terminal, 3–30-flowered (rarely more) cymes;
bracts lanceolate, 2–10 mm, herbaceous with scarious margins, or scarious throughout, glabrous or ciliate.
terminal, 5–many-flowered, open, conspicuously branched cymes;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 1–5 mm, wholly scarious, margins ciliate, apex acuminate.
ascending to erect, straight, 5–30 mm, glabrous or softly pubescent.
divaricate, 10–30 mm, glabrous.
5–10 mm diam.;
sepals 5, 3-veined, midrib prominent, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 3.5–5 mm, margins convex, narrow, scarious, sometimes ciliate, apex acute, glabrous or pubescent;
petals 5, 3–8 mm, 1–1.5 times as long as sepals;
stamens 5–10;
styles 3(–6), ascending, curled at tip, ca. 1.5 mm.
5–12 mm diam., rarely larger;
sepals 5, distinctly 3-veined, narrowly lanceolate to triangular, 3–7 mm, margins narrow, straight, scarious, apex acute, glabrous;
petals 5, 3–7 mm, equaling or longer than sepals;
stamens 10, all, some, or none fully developed and fertile;
styles 3, ascending, ca. 3 mm.
blackish purple or straw colored, ovoid to ovoid-lanceoloid, 4–6 mm, 1.5–2 times as long as sepals, apex broadly acute, opening by 6 valves;
carpophore absent.
green or straw colored, narrowly ovoid, 5–7 mm, longer than sepals, apex acute, opening by 3 valves, splitting into 6;
carpophore absent.
brown, reniform to globose, 0.6–0.9 mm diam., shallowly tuberculate to smooth.
reddish brown, reniform-rotund, ca. 1 mm diam., rugose in concentric rings.
= 52–104, (107).
= 39, 52.
Stellaria longipes
Stellaria graminea
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
In Europe, both diploid and tetraploid cytotypes of Stellaria graminea occur with occasional triploid hybrids. Only the tetraploid form has been found in North America, except for a triploid colony in Newfoundland. This species is often confused with S. longifolia but differs in its stems, which are very angular, glabrous, and not scabrid; the narrowly triangular leaves on the flowering stems; the smooth leaf margins; the stiff, triangular, prominently 3-veined sepals; and the larger, rugulose seeds.
The sterile overwintering shoots of Stellaria graminea have broader elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate leaf blades measuring 5–15 × 1.5–4 mm. They are broadest near the middle. This state of the plant has been named var. latifolia Petermann. Usually S. graminea has perfect flowers but occasionally plants that are entirely staminate-sterile are encountered. The flowers in these are partially fertile depending on the occurrence of cross- pollination.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Capsules purplish black; stems variable, commonly compact, erect; leaf blades very variable, from linear-lanceolate to ovate-triangular | subsp. longipes |
1. Capsules straw colored; stems elongate, straggling; leaf blades narrowly lanceolate | subsp. arenicola |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
