Stellaria media ssp. media

Native to Eurasia. Widely naturalized throughout North America.

Common

Open woodlands, streambanks, river banks, bottomland forests, sloughs, bases of bluffs, crop fields, abandoned feilds, ditches, roadsides, lawns, gardens.

March to November

White

2″ to 16″ in height, stems 4″ to 32″ long

This is a 2″ to 16″ tall, annual or short-lived perennial forb that rises from a slender taproot.

The stems are sometimes ascending but more commonly the lower portion of the stem reclines on the ground (decumbent) while the upper portion is erect or ascending. They are 4″ to 32″ long but only 2″ to 16″ due to their decumbent form. They are green or burgundy, 4-sided, abundantly branched below the middle, and hairless except for a single line of hairs on one side between the nodes.

The leaves are opposite, egg-shaped to elliptic, 3 ⁄16″ to 1½″ long, and 1 ⁄16″ to ¾″ wide. They are rounded to wedge-shaped at the base and angled or tapered at the tip. Lower leaves are on short leaf stalks, middle and upper leaves are stalkless. The upper surface is green and hairless. The lower surface is paler green and hairless. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is occasionally a solitary flower, more commonly a branched cluster (cyme) of 5 to many flowers at the end of the stem and branches. Each flower cluster is subtended by a pair of leaf-like bracts. The bracts are 1 ⁄32″ to ½″ long and egg-shaped, resembling small leaves.

The flowers are ⅛″ to ¼″ wide. There are 5 green, oblong lance-shaped, ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ long sepals. The sepals have a fringe of hairs along the margin and do not have a reddish band at the base. The are 5 white, 1 ⁄16″ to ⅛″ long petals. The petals are deeply divided ⅔ to 4 ⁄5 of the way to the base into 2 narrow lobes each, giving the appearance of 10 petals. The sepals are longer than the petals. Sometimes there are no petals. There are usually 3 to 5, sometimes as many as 8, stamens with reddish-violet anthers.

The fruit is a green to straw-colored, egg-shaped, ⅛″ to 3 ⁄16″ long capsule.

Giant chickweed (Myosoton aquaticum) stems are moderately to densely covered with glandular hairs. The flowers are larger, ¼″ to ½″ wide. The sepals are shorter than the petals.

Mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium fontanum ssp. vulgare) stems are densely hairy.