Stellaria pubera
Stellaria graminea
star chickweed
common or grass-leaf stitchwort or starwort, common starwort, common stitchwort, grass-leaf starwort, grass-leaf stitchwort, grass-like starwort, mouron des champs
erect, branched, 4-sided, 10–40 cm, with alternating lines of spreading, soft, flexuous, mainly eglandular hairs.
decumbent or ascending, straggling, diffusely branched, smoothly 4-angled, 20–90 cm, brittle, glabrous.
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 linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, widest near base, 1.5–4 cm × 1–6 mm, base round, margins smooth, apex acute, often ciliate near base, otherwise glabrous, not glaucous.
terminal, 3–70-flowered cymes;
bracts elliptic to lanceolate, 7–65 mm, herbaceous.
terminal, 5–many-flowered, open, conspicuously branched cymes;
bracts narrowly lanceolate, 1–5 mm, wholly scarious, margins ciliate, apex acuminate.
erect in flower, often deflexed at base in fruit, 5–40 mm, softly pubescent.
divaricate, 10–30 mm, glabrous.
(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.
5–12 mm diam., rarely larger;
sepals 5, distinctly 3-veined, narrowly lanceolate to triangular, 3–7 mm, margins narrow, straight, scarious, apex acute, glabrous;
petals 5, 3–7 mm, equaling or longer than sepals;
stamens 10, all, some, or none fully developed and fertile;
styles 3, ascending, ca. 3 mm.
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, narrowly ovoid, 5–7 mm, longer than sepals, apex acute, opening by 3 valves, splitting into 6;
carpophore absent.
brown, obliquely reniform, 1.5–2 mm diam., coarsely sulcate-papillate.
reddish brown, reniform-rotund, ca. 1 mm diam., rugose in concentric rings.
= 30.
= 39, 52.
Stellaria pubera
Stellaria graminea
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.)
In Europe, both diploid and tetraploid cytotypes of Stellaria graminea occur with occasional triploid hybrids. Only the tetraploid form has been found in North America, except for a triploid colony in Newfoundland. This species is often confused with S. longifolia but differs in its stems, which are very angular, glabrous, and not scabrid; the narrowly triangular leaves on the flowering stems; the smooth leaf margins; the stiff, triangular, prominently 3-veined sepals; and the larger, rugulose seeds.
The sterile overwintering shoots of Stellaria graminea have broader elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate leaf blades measuring 5–15 × 1.5–4 mm. They are broadest near the middle. This state of the plant has been named var. latifolia Petermann. Usually S. graminea has perfect flowers but occasionally plants that are entirely staminate-sterile are encountered. The flowers in these are partially fertile depending on the occurrence of cross- pollination.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
MD Biodiversity- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
