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star chickweed

American water starwort, Kentucky starwort

Habit Plants perennial, with stems loosely tufted, rhizomatous. Plants annual; taproot slender.
Stems

erect, branched, 4-sided, 10–40 cm, with alternating lines of spreading, soft, flexuous, mainly eglandular hairs.

straggling to ascending, branched, square, 10–25 cm, glabrous.

Leaves

usually sessile (distal), often short-petiolate (proximal);

blade elliptic, obovate, or lanceolate, widest at or beyond middle, 1–10 cm × 5–35 mm, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, glabrous to sparsely pubescent adaxially, ciliate on margins and abaxial midrib.

sessile;

blade with obscure midrib, narrowly oblanceolate to linear-spatulate, 1–3 cm × 0.8–4 mm, somewhat fleshy, base cuneate, margins entire, apex ± acute, glabrous.

Inflorescences

terminal, 3–70-flowered cymes;

bracts elliptic to lanceolate, 7–65 mm, herbaceous.

with flowers solitary in distal leaf axils;

bracts absent.

Pedicels

erect in flower, often deflexed at base in fruit, 5–40 mm, softly pubescent.

ascending or erect, 10–40 mm, glabrous.

Flowers

(8–)10–12 mm diam.;

sepals 5, with midrib, ovate, 3.5–6 mm, margins narrow, scarious, apex obtuse to acute, softly and often sparsely pubescent;

petals 5, 4–8 mm, longer than sepals;

stamens 10;

styles 3, ascending, 2.5 mm.

2.5–4 mm diam.;

sepals 4(–5), 3-veined, ovate-lanceolate, 2.5–3 mm, margins narrow, scarious, apex ± acute, glabrous;

petals absent;

stamens 4(–5), shorter than sepals;

styles 3 or 4, ascending, ca. 0.5 mm.

Capsules

green to straw colored, broadly ovoid, 3.5–5.5 mm, ca. equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 6 valves;

carpophore absent.

green or straw colored, ovoid, ca. 3 mm, ± equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening to base into 3 or 4 valves;

carpophore absent.

Seeds

brown, obliquely reniform, 1.5–2 mm diam., coarsely sulcate-papillate.

dark red-brown, orbiculate-reniform, 0.6 × 0.8 mm, shiny, tuberculate;

tubercles prominent, stalked and knoblike.

2n

= 30.

Stellaria pubera

Stellaria fontinalis

Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Rich deciduous woods, alluvial bottomlands Seasonally wet, rocky openings in wooded glades, on wet cliffs
Elevation 100-1000 m (300-3300 ft) 400-500 m (1300-1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; DC; FL; GA; IN; KY; MD; NC; NE; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
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from FNA
KY; TN
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Stellaria pubera has been introduced in Nebraska and possibly in Illinois. It is very similar to S. corei but is distinguished by its shorter, more ovate sepals.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Stellaria fontinalis is a very rare and poorly known species of uncertain affinity. Its characters are closer to Sagina and Minuartia than Stellaria, in particular the absence of petals, the 4(–5)-merous flowers, and the distinctive sculpturing of the seeds.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 5, p. 112. FNA vol. 5, p. 105.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Stellaria 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. pallida, S. palustris, S. parva, S. porsildii, S. ruscifolia, S. umbellata
S. alaskana, S. alsine, S. americana, S. borealis, S. calycantha, S. corei, S. crassifolia, S. crispa, S. cuspidata, S. dicranoides, S. graminea, S. holostea, S. humifusa, S. irrigua, S. littoralis, S. longifolia, S. longipes, S. media, S. neglecta, S. nitens, S. obtusa, S. pallida, S. palustris, S. parva, S. porsildii, S. pubera, S. ruscifolia, S. umbellata
Synonyms Alsine pubera, Alsine pubera var. tennesseensis Sagina fontinalis, Alsine fontinalis, Arenaria fontinalis, Spergula fontinalis
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 273. (1803) (Short & R. Peter) B. L. Robinson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 29: 286. (1894)
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