OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Caryophyllales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Stellaria pubera   FAMILY Caryophyllaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Stellaria pubera   FAMILY Caryophyllaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 5 (2005)

Stellaria pubera

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 071-07-004:

Stellaria pubera   FAMILY Caryophyllaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)

Stellaria pubera var. pubera

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Alsine pubera

 

COMMON NAME:
Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_alpu8_001_lvd

        

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm090321_095

March    Greenville County    SC

Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve

Stem leaves are mostly lanceolate, to 3.5" long, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm200322_3339

March    Polk County    NC

Pearson's Falls

Sepals are acute to obtuse and shorter than the petals, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm200322_3365

March    Polk County    NC

Pearson's Falls

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm230328_2136

March    Pickens County    SC

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve

Not sure why the petals of these plants turn downward...

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_stellaria_pubera

March        

Apparently 10 petals, but actually 5 petals deeply split, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm0404h_17

April    Polk County    NC

Pearson's Falls

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm130422_668

April    Pickens County    SC

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm160422_120

April    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Fruit is an ovoid capsule containing many small seeds, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm160423_474

April    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Short, small-leaved flowering shoots replaced by taller shoots w larger lvs, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm180427_1552

April    Sevier County    TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm200403_3475

April    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm200422_4040

April    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm210401_9084

April    Polk County    NC

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

Keith Bradley    kab_stellaria_pubera_0473

April        NC

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

Keith Bradley    kab_stellaria_pubera_1349

April    Polk County    SC

Pearson's Falls

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

Keith Bradley    kab_stellaria_pubera_1369

April    Polk County    SC

Pearson's Falls

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm210619_1443

June    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm230720_4661

July    Greenville County    SC

Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve

Sterile and fertile shoots dimorphic, the leaves of sterile shoots much larger, per Weakley's Flora.

image of Stellaria pubera, Giant Chickweed, Star Chickweed, Great Chickweed, Common Starwort

JK Marlow    jkm210824_2988

August    Greenville County    SC

Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Stellaria pubera   FAMILY Caryophyllaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Stellaria pubera   FAMILY Caryophyllaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 5
Stellaria pubera

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 071-07-004:
Stellaria pubera   FAMILY Caryophyllaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Stellaria pubera var. pubera

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Alsine pubera

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

1464

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Bottomland forests, moist slopes, coves, hammocks, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common (uncommon to rare in Coastal Plain)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Simple
Opposite
Leaves sessile or occasionally short-petiolate

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
White
Radially symmetrical
5 sepals
5 petals
5-10 stamens
Superior ovary
Usually bisexual

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer
Capsule

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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