Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Stellaria media

Flowering stems. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Kambah, Canberra, ACT

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Batehaven south of Batemans Bay

Line drawing in Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 2: 43.

Common name

Common chickweed, Chickweed

Family

Caryophyllaceae

Where found

Grassy areas, gardens, disturbed sites, roadsides, shaded crevices in rocks, and disturbed damp sites. Widespread.

Notes

Introduced annual or biennial herb to 0.6 m tall or prostrate, mostly hairless. Stems with a line of hairs between the nodes. Leaves opposite each other, 0.5-4 cm long, 2-15 mm wide, margins sometimes hairy, bases sometimes cordate, tips pointed, often wavy. Flowers with 5 deeply cleft white petals or 0 petals, and 5 sepals. Sepals 4-7 mm long, petals 3-4 mm long. Flowers single or in leafy clusters. Flowers Winter to Summer.

PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Stellaria~media  (accessed 18 January, 2021)