Common Chickweed (Stellaria neglecta)

Stellaria neglecta, the common chickweed, is an annual or short-lived perennial herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Europe.

Stellaria neglecta forms part of a complex that also includes S. media and S. pallida. The last of these is generally separable on morphological grounds, but there is no clear-cut morphological distinction between S. neglecta and S. media, which are easily confused; neglecta was formerly treated as a subspecies of S. media.

Stellaria neglecta resembles S. media, but is generally larger in all its parts. It has weak branching stems, that are usually decumbent at the base, ascending distally to around 80–90 cm. Between each pair of nodes, the stem carries a single row of hairs. The lower leaves are long-stalked, with the leaf blade 1−2.5 cm long and the stalk up to twice as long; the upper leaves have a short flattened stalk or are sessile, with the leaf blade up to 5 cm long; the leaf blade is ovate to broadly elliptical, acuminate, and glabrous.

Flowers are borne on long slender stalks which are glabrous or pubescent, initially spreading and reflexed, later erect. There are five sepals, 5−6.5 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous or pubescent, with an acute apex. The five petals are white, deeply bifid, the cleft extending almost to the base, and giving the impression that there are actually ten petals; in length, the petals are equal to or slightly longer than the sepals. The flowers are about 10 mm in diameter. There are usually 8-10 stamens and three styles.

Stellaria neglecta flowers between April and July, after which the flowering parts decay. The stems remain alive and produce tillers which overwinter and flower the following year.

Seeds are tuberculate, dark reddish-brown, 1.3−1.7 mm in diameter. The tubercles are conical, with an acute apex.

Common chickweed is widely distributed throughout Europe, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic and Scandinavia, and from the British Isles to Ukraine, but is nowhere common. In Great Britain, it is most common in the south and west, infrequent in the north. In North America, it was formerly rare, but it has spread rapidly in recent decades and is now considered a weed in a number of states, from Maryland to California.

Stellaria neglecta prefers damp, shady conditions, and is usually found in woodland, hedges, or on the banks of streams.