Stellaria

Stellaria
Greater stitchwort, Stellaria holostea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Caryophyllaceae
Genus:	Stellaria L.

Stellaria is a genus of about 90-120 species flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include starwort,^[1] stitchwort and chickweed.

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 spp), 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 and medicinal properties of plants in the genus Stellaria, include members of the genus Cerastium, of similar in appearance to Stellaria and also in the (Carophyllaceae).

Selected species

Lesser stitchwort, Stellaria graminea

Stellaria abortiva Stellaria alaschanica Stellaria alaskana Stellaria alsine Stellaria amblyosepala Stellaria americana Stellaria arenarioides Stellaria arisanensis Stellaria aquaticum - Water chickweed Stellaria axillaris Stellaria bistyla Stellaria borealis Stellaria brachypetala Stellaria bungeana Stellaria calycantha Stellaria cherleriae Stellaria ciliatisepala Stellaria congestiflora Stellaria corei Stellaria crassifolia Stellaria crassipes Stellaria crispa Stellaria cuspidata Stellaria decumbens Stellaria delavayi Stellaria depressa Stellaria dianthifolia Stellaria dichotoma Stellaria dicranoides Stellaria discolor Stellaria ebracteata Stellaria fennica Stellaria filicaulis Stellaria flaccida - Forest starwort Stellaria fontinalis Stellaria graminea - Lesser stitchwort Stellaria gyangtseensis Stellaria gyirongensis Stellaria henryi Stellaria holostea - Greater stitchwort Stellaria humifusa - Saltmarsh starwort Stellaria imbricata Stellaria infracta Stellaria irrigua Stellaria lanata Stellaria lanipes Stellaria littoralis

Stellaria longifolia Stellaria longipes - Long-stalk starwort Stellaria mainlingensis Stellaria martjanovii Stellaria media - Common chickweed Stellaria monosperma Stellaria neglecta - Greater chickweed Stellaria nemorum - Wood stitchwort Stellaria nepalensis Stellaria nipponica Stellaria nitens Stellaria obtusa Stellaria omeiensis Stellaria ovatifolia Stellaria oxycoccoides Stellaria oxyphylla Stellaria pallida - Lesser chickweed Stellaria palustris - Marsh stitchwort Stellaria parva Stellaria parviumbellata Stellaria patens Stellaria petiolaris Stellaria petraea Stellaria pilosoides Stellaria porsildii Stellaria pubera - Star chickweed Stellaria pusilla Stellaria radians Stellaria recurvata Stellaria reticulivena Stellaria rotundifolia Stellaria ruscifolia Stellaria salicifolia Stellaria soongorica Stellaria souliei Stellaria stenopetala Stellaria strongylosepala Stellaria subumbellata Stellaria tibetica Stellaria uda Stellaria uliginosa - Bog stitchwort Stellaria umbellata Stellaria vestita Stellaria winkleri Stellaria wushanensis Stellaria yunnanensis Stellaria zangnanensis

References

1. "Stellaria". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
2. Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-185918-4783
3. Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. ISBN 0-521-04656-4

Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford, ISBN 0-87842-359-1