Stellaria pallida |
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lesser chickweed, pale starwort |
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Habit | Plants annual, usually yellowish green, with slender taproot. |
Stems | prostrate, much-branched, 4-sided, usually 10–20(–40) cm, glabrous, with single line of hairs along each internode. |
Leaves | 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 | terminal, 3–35-flowered cymes; bracts lanceolate, 2–10 mm, herbaceous, margins entire. |
Pedicels | spreading, sometimes deflexed at base in fruit, 1–10 mm, pubescent. |
Flowers | 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 | 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 yellowish brown, reniform to round, 0.5–0.9 mm diam., tuberculate; tubercles prominent, broader than tall, apex obtuse. |
2n | = 22. |
Stellaria pallida |
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Phenology | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Dunes, sandy waste places, rest areas on interstate highways |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
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 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. 111. |
Parent taxa | Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | Alsine pallida, S. boraeana, S. media subsp. pallida |
Name authority | (Dumortier) Crépin: Man. Fl. Belgique ed. 2, 19. (1866) |
Web links |
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