Stellaria is a genus of about 190 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include starwort, stitchwort and chickweed.

Description

Stellaria species are relatively small herbs with simple opposite leaves. It produces small flowers with 5 sepals and 5 white petals each usually deeply cleft, or none at all, all free. Stamens 10 or fewer.

Uses

Some species, including Stellaria media which is widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, are used as leaf vegetables, often raw in salads. This is a favored food of finches and many other seed-eating birds.

Chickweeds are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including angle shades, heart and dart, riband wave, setaceous Hebrew character and the Coleophora case-bearers C.coenosipennella (feeds exclusively on Stellaria species), C.lineolea (recorded on S. graminea), C.lithargyrinella (recorded on S. holostea), C.solitariella (feeds exclusively on S. holostea) and C.striatipennella.

Several closely related plants referred to as chickweed, but which lack the culinary properties of plants in the genus Stellaria, include members of the genus Cerastium, of similar appearance to Stellaria and also in the (Caryophyllaceae).

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus Stellaria:

• Stellaria abadensis

• Stellaria × adulterina

• Stellaria alaschanica

• Stellaria alaskana

• Stellaria alpamarcae

• Stellaria × alpestris

• Stellaria alsine – bog stitchwort

• Stellaria alsinoides

• Stellaria altimontana

• Stellaria × ambigua

• Stellaria amblyosepala

• Stellaria amplexicaulis

• Stellaria anagalloides

• Stellaria andina

• Stellaria angarae

• Stellaria angustifolia

• Stellaria antillana

• Stellaria apetala

• Stellaria aphanantha

• Stellaria aphananthoidea

• Stellaria apurimacensis

• Stellaria aquatica – water chickweed

• Stellaria arenarioides

• Stellaria arvalis

• Stellaria assadii

• Stellaria australis

• Stellaria bayanensis

• Stellaria bengalensis

• Stellaria borealis

• Stellaria brachypetala

• Stellaria bungeana

• Stellaria calycantha

• Stellaria celsa

• Stellaria chilensis

• Stellaria chinensis

• Stellaria circinata

• Stellaria concinna

• Stellaria congesta

• Stellaria congestiflora

• Stellaria corei

• Stellaria crassifolia

• Stellaria crispa

• Stellaria cryptantha

• Stellaria cryptopetala

• Stellaria cuonaensis

• Stellaria cupaniana

• Stellaria cuspidata

• Stellaria darvasievii

• Stellaria davurica

• Stellaria debilis

• Stellaria decipiens

• Stellaria decumbens

• Stellaria depauperata

• Stellaria depressa

• Stellaria dianthifolia

• Stellaria dicranoides

• Stellaria discolor

• Stellaria edwardsii

• Stellaria emirnensis

• Stellaria engleriana

• Stellaria erecta

• Stellaria erlangeriana

• Stellaria eschscholtziana

• Stellaria fennica

• Stellaria fenzlii

• Stellaria filicaulis

• Stellaria filiformis

• Stellaria fischeriana

• Stellaria flaccida – forest starwort

• Stellaria galianoi

• Stellaria × glauciformis

• Stellaria gracilenta

• Stellaria graminea – lesser stitchwort

• Stellaria gyangtseensis

• Stellaria gyirongensis

• Stellaria hebecalyx

• Stellaria henryi

• Stellaria hibinoi

• Stellaria hintoniorum

• Stellaria humifusa – saltmarsh starwort

• Stellaria × hybrida

• Stellaria imbricata

• Stellaria infracta

• Stellaria inundata

• Stellaria irazuensis

• Stellaria irrigua

• Stellaria jacutica

• Stellaria keraiopetala

• Stellaria koelzii

• Stellaria kolymensis

• Stellaria krylovii

• Stellaria laeta

• Stellaria laevis

• Stellaria lanata

• Stellaria × lancifolia

• Stellaria lanipes

• Stellaria laxmannii

• Stellaria leptoclada

• Stellaria littoralis

• Stellaria longifolia

• Stellaria longipedicellata

• Stellaria longipes – long-stalk starwort

• Stellaria macbridei

• Stellaria macrophylla

• Stellaria mainlingensis

• Stellaria mannii

• Stellaria mcclintockiae

• Stellaria media – common chickweed

• Stellaria merzbacheri

• Stellaria miahuatlana

• Stellaria minuta

• Stellaria montioides

• Stellaria multiflora

• Stellaria multipartita

• Stellaria neglecta – greater chickweed

• Stellaria nemorum – wood stitchwort

• Stellaria neotomentosa

• Stellaria nepalensis

• Stellaria nipponica

• Stellaria nitens

• Stellaria nubigena

• Stellaria omeiensis

• Stellaria ovata

• Stellaria ovatifolia

• Stellaria oxycoccoides

• Stellaria palustris – marsh stitchwort

• Stellaria papillata

• Stellaria parviflora

• Stellaria parviumbellata

• Stellaria patagonica

• Stellaria patens

• Stellaria pauciflora

• Stellaria pedersenii

• Stellaria peduncularis

• Stellaria pedunculosa

• Stellaria pentastyla

• Stellaria persica

• Stellaria petiolaris

• Stellaria pilosoides

• Stellaria pinvalliaca

• Stellaria polyantha

• Stellaria porsildii

• Stellaria procumbens

• Stellaria pterosperma

• Stellaria pubera – star chickweed

• Stellaria pulvinata

• Stellaria pungens – prickly starwort

• Stellaria pusilla

• Stellaria radians

• Stellaria rajbhandaryi

• Stellaria recurvata

• Stellaria reticulivena

• Stellaria rigida

• Stellaria roughii

• Stellaria ruderalis

• Stellaria ruscifolia

• Stellaria salicifolia

• Stellaria sanjuanensis

• Stellaria sarcophylla

• Stellaria schischkinii

• Stellaria semivestita

• Stellaria sennii

• Stellaria serpens

• Stellaria sessiliflora

• Stellaria sibirica

• Stellaria sikaramensis

• Stellaria sikkimensis

• Stellaria sitchana

• Stellaria smithii

• Stellaria soongorica

• Stellaria souliei

• Stellaria spinulosa

• Stellaria standleyi

• Stellaria strongylosepala

• Stellaria taiwanensis

• Stellaria tetrasticha

• Stellaria tibetica

• Stellaria uchiyamana

• Stellaria uda

• Stellaria undulata

• Stellaria utcubambensis

• Stellaria venezuelana

• Stellaria vestita

• Stellaria villasenorii

• Stellaria viridifolia

• Stellaria wallichiana

• Stellaria weberbaueri

• Stellaria weddellii

• Stellaria williamsiana

• Stellaria winkleri

• Stellaria xanthophylla

• Stellaria yinshanensis

• Stellaria yungasensis

• Stellaria yunnanensis

• Stellaria zangnanensis

• Stellaria zhuxiensis

Formerly placed here

• Engellaria obtusa (as Stellaria obtusa )

• Hesperostellaria americana (as Stellaria americana )

• Reniostellaria bistylata (as Stellar bistylata )

• Schizotechium turkestanicum (as Stellaria turkestanica )

• Torreyostellaria jamesiana (as Stellaria jamesiana )

• Rabelera holostea (as Stellaria holostea ) – greater stitchwort, greater starwort, or addersmeat

References

• Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford,