Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Stellaria pungens
Prickly starwort, Prickly knawel
Caryophyllaceae
Forest, woodland, grassy areas, and gullies. Common in shady places. Widespread. Rarely coastal.
Perennial herb to 0.6 m high, or prostrate, often mat-forming, rhizomatous. Leaves and sepals with sharp points. Stems angular, young stems with medium-dense curly white hairs, becoming hairless. Leaves opposite each other, 0.4–1.3 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, sparsely to densely hairy with curly white hairs, becoming hairless, margins fringed. Flowers white, with 5 white deeply cleft petals, about as long as the sepals. Sepals 5–10 mm long. Flowers single. Flowering: late Winter to Summer.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Stellaria~pungens (accessed 18 January, 2021)
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