Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Stellaria pungens
Common name
Prickly starwort, Prickly knawel
Family
Caryophyllaceae
Where found
Forest, woodland, grassy areas, and gullies. Common in shady places. Widespread. Rarely coastal.
Notes
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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