THE BULGARIAN FLORA ONLINE

Stellaria graminea

Lesser Stitchwort

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Common names

Lesser Stitchwort.

Scientific name

Stellaria graminea L.

Conservation status and threats

NOT protected species in Bulgaria.

Description and identification

Stellaria graminea is an perennial herbaceous plant. Rhi-zomatous; rhizomes slender, elongate. Stems decumbent or ascending, straggling, diffusely branched, smoothly 4-angled, 20-90 cm, brittle, glabrous. Leaves sessile; blade linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, widest near base, 1.5-4 cm × 1-6 mm, base round, margins smooth, apex acute, often ciliate near base, otherwise glabrous, not glaucous. Inflorescences terminal, 5-many-flowered, open, conspicuously branched cymes; bracts narrowly lanceolate, 1-5 mm, wholly scarious, margins ciliate, apex acuminate. Pedicels divaricate, 10-30 mm, glabrous. Flowers 5-12 mm diam., rarely larger; sepals 5, distinctly 3-veined, narrowly lanceolate to triangular, 3-7 mm, margins narrow, straight, scarious, apex acute, glabrous; petals 5, 3-7 mm, equaling or longer than sepals; stamens 10, all, some, or none fully developed and fertile; styles 3, ascending, ca. 3 mm. Capsules green or straw colored, narrowly ovoid, 5-7 mm, longer than sepals, apex acute, opening by 3 valves, splitting into 6; carpophore absent. Seeds reddish brown, reniform-rotund, ca. 1 mm diam., rugose in concentric rings. Flowering May-August¹.

Habitat

In meadows and bushes, on grassy and stony places, pastures, mostly in mesophytic habitats².

Distribution in Bulgaria

In the plains and mountains up to 1850 altitude³.

References

1 Stellaria graminea in Flora of North america @ efloras.org.

2 Асенов, Ив. 1966. Във: Флора на Народна Република България, том III, София.

3 Асенов, 1966.

4 Асенов, 1966.

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