Stellaria obtusa |
Stellaria palustris |
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blunt-sepal starwort, obtuse starwort, Rocky Mountain chickweed, Rocky Mountain starwort |
marsh stitchwort, meadow starwort |
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Habit | Plants perennial, creeping, often matted but not forming cushions, rhizomatous. | Plants perennial, with slender creeping rhizomes. |
Stems | prostrate, branched, 4-sided, 3–23 cm, internodes equaling or longer than leaves, glabrous, rarely pilose. |
straggling, with erect branches, smoothly 4-angled, (20–)30–60 cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | 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. |
sessile; blade linear-lanceolate, 1.5–5 cm × 1–4 mm, base cuneate, margins smooth, apex acute, glabrous, usually glaucous. |
Inflorescences | with flowers solitary, axillary; bracts absent. |
terminal, (1–)2–21-flowered cymes; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2–7 mm, herbaceous or scarious with green midrib, not ciliate. |
Pedicels | spreading, 3–12 mm, glabrous. |
ascending, 30–100 mm, glabrous. |
Flowers | 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. |
12–18 mm diam.; sepals 5, distinctly 3-veined, lanceolate, 6–8 mm, margins wide, scarious, apex acute, glabrous; petals 5, 7–10 mm, 1.5–2 times as long as sepals; stamens 10; styles 3, erect, 5–7 mm; stigmas club-shaped. |
Capsules | 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. |
green to straw colored, ovoid-oblong, 8–10 mm, ± equaling sepals, apex acute, opening by 6 valves; carpophore absent. |
Seeds | grayish black, broadly elliptic, 0.5–0.7 mm diam., finely reticulate. |
dark reddish brown, round, 1.2–1.4 mm diam., tuberculate; tubercles shallow, round. |
2n | = 26, 52, ca. 65, ca. 78. |
= 130–188 (Europe), ca. 198. |
Stellaria obtusa |
Stellaria palustris |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | Flowering early summer. |
Habitat | Moist areas in woods, shaded edges of creeks, talus slopes | Hayfields and pastures subject to seasonal flooding |
Elevation | 300-3400 m (1000-11200 ft) | 0-20 m (0-100 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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QC; Europe [Introduced in North America] |
Discussion | Stellaria palustris is found along the Saint Lawrence estuary. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 110. | FNA vol. 5, p. 111. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Alsine obtusa, Alsine viridula, Alsine washingtoniana, S. viridula, S. washingtoniana | Alsine glauca, S. glauca |
Name authority | Engelmann: Bot. Gaz. 7: 5. (1882) | Ehrhart ex Hoffmann: Deutschl. Fl. 1: 152. (1791) |
Web links |
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