Stellaria obtusa |
Stellaria parva |
|
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blunt-sepal starwort, obtuse starwort, Rocky Mountain chickweed, Rocky Mountain starwort |
pygmy starwort, small starwort |
|
Habit | Plants perennial, creeping, often matted but not forming cushions, rhizomatous. | Plants annual or perennial, forming mats, rhizomatous. |
Stems | prostrate, branched, 4-sided, 3–23 cm, internodes equaling or longer than leaves, glabrous, rarely pilose. |
creeping, much-branched, rooting at lower nodes, 4-angled, 5–30 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on 2 sides. |
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 to subsessile; blade elliptic to obovate, 0.3–1.5 cm × 1–6 mm, base cuneate to spatulate, margins entire, apex obtuse to ± acute, tip blunt, glabrous or pubescent at base and stem nodes. |
Inflorescences | with flowers solitary, axillary; bracts absent. |
with flowers solitary, axillary in distal nodes; bracts absent. |
Pedicels | spreading, 3–12 mm, glabrous. |
spreading, becoming reflexed in fruit, 2–10 mm, glandular-pubescent. |
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. |
3–4 mm diam.; sepals 4–5, herbaceous with midrib, ovate-lanceolate, 2.5–3 mm, margins convex, membranous, apex obtuse, glandular-pubescent; petals 4–5, ca. 3 mm, equaling sepals; stamens 4–5; styles 3–4, ascending. |
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. |
broadly ovoid, ca. 4.5 mm, longer than sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6–8 valves; carpophore absent. |
Seeds | grayish black, broadly elliptic, 0.5–0.7 mm diam., finely reticulate. |
ca. 20, brown, round, ca. 1 mm diam., prominently papillate; papillae obtuse, taller than broad. |
2n | = 26, 52, ca. 65, ca. 78. |
= 34. |
Stellaria obtusa |
Stellaria parva |
|
Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Moist areas in woods, shaded edges of creeks, talus slopes | Short grass in ditches and marshy areas |
Elevation | 300-3400 m (1000-11200 ft) | less than 100 m (less than 300 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
|
LA; TX; South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay) [Introduced in North America] |
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 | |
Name authority | Engelmann: Bot. Gaz. 7: 5. (1882) | Pederson: Bot. Tidsskr. 57: 44, fig. 4. (1961) |
Web links |
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