Stellaria
Stellaria is a genus of about 190 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include starwort,[1] stitchwort and chickweed.
| Stellaria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Caryophyllaceae |
| Genus: | Stellaria L. |
| Synonyms | |
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List
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Description
Stellaria species are relatively small herbs with simple opposite leaves. It produces small flowers with 5 sepals and 5 white petals each usually deeply cleft, or none at all, all free. Stamens 10 or fewer.[2][3]
Uses
Some species, including Stellaria media which is widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, are used as leaf vegetables, often raw in salads. This is a favored food of finches and many other seed-eating birds.
Chickweeds are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including angle shades, heart and dart, riband wave, setaceous Hebrew character and the Coleophora case-bearers C. coenosipennella (feeds exclusively on Stellaria species), C. lineolea (recorded on S. graminea), C. lithargyrinella (recorded on S. holostea), C. solitariella (feeds exclusively on S. holostea) and C. striatipennella.
Several closely related plants referred to as chickweed, but which lack the culinary properties of plants in the genus Stellaria, include members of the genus Cerastium, of similar appearance to Stellaria and also in the (Carophyllaceae).
Species
The following species are recognised in the genus Stellaria:[4]
- Stellaria abortiva
- Stellaria alaschanica
- Stellaria alaskana
- Stellaria alsine – bog stitchwort
- Stellaria alsinoides
- Stellaria altimontana
- Stellaria amblyosepala
- Stellaria americana
- Stellaria amplexicaulis
- Stellaria anagalloides
- Stellaria angarae
- Stellaria angustifolia
- Stellaria antillana
- Stellaria antoniana
- Stellaria apetala
- Stellaria aphanantha
- Stellaria aphananthoidea
- Stellaria aquatica – water chickweed
- Stellaria arenarioides
- Stellaria arvalis
- Stellaria australis
- Stellaria bistyla
- Stellaria blatteri
- Stellaria borealis
- Stellaria brachypetala
- Stellaria bungeana
- Stellaria calycantha
- Stellaria celsa
- Stellaria chilensis
- Stellaria chinensis
- Stellaria cilicica
- Stellaria circinata
- Stellaria concinna
- Stellaria congestiflora
- Stellaria corei
- Stellaria crassifolia
- Stellaria crispa
- Stellaria cryptantha
- Stellaria cryptopetala
- Stellaria cuonaensis
- Stellaria cupaniana
- Stellaria cuspidata
- Stellaria darvasievii
- Stellaria davurica
- Stellaria debilis
- Stellaria decipiens
- Stellaria decumbens
- Stellaria delavayi
- Stellaria depauperata
- Stellaria depressa
- Stellaria dianthifolia
- Stellaria dichotoma
- Stellaria dicranoides
- Stellaria discolor
- Stellaria edwardsii
- Stellaria emirnensis
- Stellaria erlangeriana
- Stellaria eschscholtziana
- Stellaria fennica
- Stellaria fenzlii
- Stellaria filicaulis
- Stellaria filiformis
- Stellaria fischeriana
- Stellaria flaccida – forest starwort
- Stellaria gracilenta
- Stellaria graminea – lesser stitchwort
- Stellaria gyangtseensis
- Stellaria gyirongensis
- Stellaria gyirongensis
- Stellaria hebecalyx
- Stellaria henryi
- Stellaria hintoniorum
- Stellaria howardii
- Stellaria humifusa – saltmarsh starwort
- Stellaria imbricata
- Stellaria infracta
- Stellaria inundata
- Stellaria irazuensis
- Stellaria irrigua
- Stellaria jacutica
- Stellaria koelzii
- Stellaria kolymensis
- Stellaria krylovii
- Stellaria laeta
- Stellaria lanata
- Stellaria lanipes
- Stellaria laxmannii
- Stellaria leptoclada
- Stellaria littoralis
- Stellaria longifolia
- Stellaria longipes – long-stalk starwort
- Stellaria mainlingensis
- Stellaria mannii
- Stellaria media – common chickweed
- Stellaria merzbacheri
- Stellaria miahuatlana
- Stellaria minuta
- Stellaria minutifolia
- Stellaria montioides
- Stellaria multiflora
- Stellaria multipartita
- Stellaria neglecta – greater chickweed
- Stellaria nemorum – wood stitchwort
- Stellaria nepalensis
- Stellaria nipponica
- Stellaria nitens
- Stellaria nubigena
- Stellaria obtusa
- Stellaria omeiensis
- Stellaria ovata
- Stellaria ovatifolia
- Stellaria oxycoccoides
- Stellaria palustris – marsh stitchwort
- Stellaria papillata
- Stellaria parviflora
- Stellaria parviumbellata
- Stellaria patens
- Stellaria pauciflora
- Stellaria pedersenii
- Stellaria peduncularis
- Stellaria pentastyla
- Stellaria persica
- Stellaria petiolaris
- Stellaria pilosoides
- Stellaria pinvalliaca
- Stellaria polyantha
- Stellaria porsildii
- Stellaria procumbens
- Stellaria pterosperma
- Stellaria pubera – star chickweed
- Stellaria pulvinata
- Stellaria pungens – prickly starwort
- Stellaria pusilla
- Stellaria radians
- Stellaria recurvata
- Stellaria reticulivena
- Stellaria rigida
- Stellaria roughii
- Stellaria ruderalis
- Stellaria ruscifolia
- Stellaria salicifolia
- Stellaria sanjuanensis
- Stellaria sarcophylla
- Stellaria scaturiginella
- Stellaria schischkinii
- Stellaria semivestita
- Stellaria sennii
- Stellaria serpens
- Stellaria sessiliflora
- Stellaria sibirica
- Stellaria sikaramensis
- Stellaria sikkimensis
- Stellaria sitchana
- Stellaria soongorica
- Stellaria souliei
- Stellaria strongylosepala
- Stellaria tetrasticha
- Stellaria tibetica
- Stellaria tomentella
- Stellaria turkestanica
- Stellaria uchiyamana
- Stellaria uda
- Stellaria venezuelana
- Stellaria vestita
- Stellaria viridifolia
- Stellaria wallichiana
- Stellaria weddellii
- Stellaria williamsiana
- Stellaria winkleri
- Stellaria xanthospora
- Stellaria yungasensis
- Stellaria yunnanensis
- Stellaria zangnanensis
- Stellaria zhuxiensis
References
- USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Stellaria". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-185918-4783
- Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. ISBN 0-521-04656-4
- "Stellaria L. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
- Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford, ISBN 0-87842-359-1
External links
Media related to Stellaria at Wikimedia Commons