Stellaria media (Common chickweed)

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Stellaria media (L.) Vill.

Common chickweed, craches, maruns, winterweed, chickweed

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Caryophyllaceae	Pink or carnation family
Genus	Stellaria	From the Latin stella for “star’ because of the star-like shape of the flowers or some other feature
Species	media	Meaning “the middle,” because the plant is midway between two others with regard to some identifying characteristic such as size

About plant names...

This European native is widespread in North America now. It exploded into existence in my yard not long after the neighbor's chickens began rooting around there. As you may have guessed from the name, chickens like chickweed. I don't know whether they were attracted to it, or they brought it with them. It is considered a pest by many gardeners, lawn owners, and farmers.

Identification: Chickweed is a low-growing plant with a preference for cool, damp conditions. It has stems up to 1½′ (50 cm) long, spreading horizontally and re-rooting as it goes, and growing upward to 8-12″ (20-30 cm). It inhabits lawns, landscaping, fallow gardens, any exposed rich soil. It flowers practically all the time, producing tiny white flowers about ¼″ (6.3 mm) across. Flowers have five petals and five sepals. Each petal is deeply cut, so the five petals look like ten. They produce zillions of tiny 1/32″ (1 mm) seeds, up to 15,000 per plant.

Edibility: Chickweed is edible and tasty when added to salads or boiled briefly like spinach. It has a lot of vitamin C, and good nutritional value.

Online References:

KingdomPlantae.net

Wikipedia

Plants for a Future, a resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants

Ipm.ucanr.edu

The Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide

CalPhotos

Illinois Wildflowers

2/24/2010 · Batiquitos Lagoon, Carlsbad, California · ≈ 15 × 10″ (38 × 25 cm)

5/31/2016 · J. Harry Rich State Forest, Pepperell, Massachusetts

4/10/2010 · Tom & Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm)

6/10/2017 · Andres Institute of Art, Big Bear Mountain, Brookline, New Hampshire · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 14 cm)

Stellaria media description by Thomas H. Kent, last updated 7 Oct 2021.

6/10/2017 · Andres Institute of Art, Big Bear Mountain, Brookline, New Hampshire · ≈ 6 × 4″ (15 × 10 cm)

4/10/2010 · Tom & Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 3½″ (13 × 9.2 cm)

5/16/2016 · Oak Hill, Littleton, Massachusetts

4/6/2012 · North Central Railroad Trail, Sparks, Maryland

Flower is approximately 3/16" (5 mm) in diameter. · 7/29/2023 · Tom and Susan’s, Pepperell, Massachusetts

6/10/2017 · Andres Institute of Art, Big Bear Mountain, Brookline, New Hampshire · ≈ 3½ × 5″ (9.2 × 13 cm)

3/18/2012 · Gunpowder Falls State Park, Phoenix Rd., Phoenix, Maryland · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 14 cm) ID is uncertain

Range:

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