Stellaria holostea

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 1: 422. 1753.

Common names: Greater stitchwort Easter-bell
WeedyIntroduced
Synonyms: Alsine holostea (Linnaeus) Britton
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 5. Treatment on page 106. Mentioned on page 97, 99.

Plants perennial, scrambling to ascending, from slender, creeping rhizomes. Stems branched distally, 4-angled, 15–60 cm, glabrous or hispid-puberulent distally. Leaves sessile; blade narrowly lanceolate, widest near base, 4–8 cm × 2–10 mm, somewhat coriaceous, base round and clasping, margins and abaxial midrib very rough, apex narrowly and sharply acuminate, scabrid, otherwise glabrous, slightly glaucous. Inflorescences terminal, loose, 3–31-flowered cymes; bracts foliaceous, 5–50 mm, margins and abaxial midrib scabrid. Pedicels ascending, 1–60 mm, slender, pubescent. Flowers 20–30 mm diam.; sepals 5, inconspicuously 3-veined, ovate-lanceolate, 6–8 mm, margins narrow, scarious, apex acute, glabrous; petals 5 (rarely absent), 8–14 mm, longer than sepals, blade apex 2-fid to middle; stamens 10, sometimes fewer by degeneration; styles 3, ascending, ca. 4 mm. Capsules green, subglobose, 5–6 mm, ± equaling sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 3 valves, tardily splitting into 6; carpophore absent. Seeds reddish brown, reniform, 2–3 mm diam., papillose. 2n = 26 (Europe).


Phenology: Flowering spring.
Habitat: Woodlands, hedgerows
Elevation: 0-500 m

Distribution

V5 219-distribution-map.gif

Introduced; Conn., Mass., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., Eurasia.

Discussion

Stellaria holostea is sometimes cultivated and occasionally naturalizes.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.