Stellaria palustris

Ehrhart ex Hoffmann

Deutschl. Fl. 1: 152. 1791.

Common names: Marsh stitchwort
Introduced
Synonyms: Alsine glauca (Withering) Britton Stellaria glauca Withering
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 5. Treatment on page 111. Mentioned on page 98.

Plants perennial, with slender creeping rhizomes. Stems straggling, with erect branches, smoothly 4-angled, (20–)30–60 cm, glabrous. Leaves sessile; blade linear-lanceolate, 1.5–5 cm × 1–4 mm, base cuneate, margins smooth, apex acute, glabrous, usually glaucous. Inflorescences terminal, (1–)2–21-flowered cymes; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2–7 mm, herbaceous or scarious with green midrib, not ciliate. Pedicels ascending, 30–100 mm, glabrous. Flowers 12–18 mm diam.; sepals 5, distinctly 3-veined, lanceolate, 6–8 mm, margins wide, scarious, apex acute, glabrous; petals 5, 7–10 mm, 1.5–2 times as long as sepals; stamens 10; styles 3, erect, 5–7 mm; stigmas club-shaped. Capsules green to straw colored, ovoid-oblong, 8–10 mm, ± equaling sepals, apex acute, opening by 6 valves; carpophore absent. Seeds dark reddish brown, round, 1.2–1.4 mm diam., tuberculate; tubercles shallow, round. 2n = 130–188 (Europe), ca. 198.


Phenology: Flowering early summer.
Habitat: Hayfields and pastures subject to seasonal flooding
Elevation: 0-20 m

Distribution

V5 232-distribution-map.gif

Introduced; Que., Europe.

Discussion

Stellaria palustris is found along the Saint Lawrence estuary.

Lower Taxa

None.