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lesser chickweed, pale starwort

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

Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Dunes, sandy waste places, rest areas on interstate highways
Elevation 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
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]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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
S. alaskana, S. alsine, S. americana, S. borealis, S. calycantha, S. corei, S. crassifolia, S. crispa, S. cuspidata, S. dicranoides, S. fontinalis, S. graminea, S. holostea, S. humifusa, S. irrigua, S. littoralis, S. longifolia, S. longipes, S. media, S. neglecta, S. nitens, S. obtusa, S. palustris, S. parva, S. porsildii, S. pubera, S. ruscifolia, S. umbellata
Synonyms Alsine pallida, S. boraeana, S. media subsp. pallida
Name authority (Dumortier) Crépin: Man. Fl. Belgique ed. 2, 19. (1866)
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