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Stellaria calycantha

NORTHERN STARWORT


Higher Taxonomy
Family: CaryophyllaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: PINK FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb; rarely dioecious (Silene), taprooted or rhizome generally slender. Leaf: simple, generally opposite (subwhorled), entire, pairs at nodes often +- connected at bases; stipules generally 0; petiole generally 0. Inflorescence: generally cyme, generally open; flowers 1--many; involucre generally 0 (present in most Dianthus, Petrorhagia). Flower: generally bisexual, radial; hypanthium often present but obscure; sepals (4)5, +- free or fused into a tube, margins generally scarious, more so on inner 2 or not, tube generally not scarious, awns generally 0; petals (4)5 or 0, generally tapered to base (or with claw long, limb expanded), entire to 2--several-lobed, limb generally without scale-like appendages adaxially, generally without ear-like lobes at base; stamens generally 10, generally fertile, generally free, generally from ovary base; nectaries 0 or 5; ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, placentas basal or free-central, styles 2--5 with 0 branches or 1 with 2--3 branches. Fruit: capsule or utricle (rarely +- dehiscent), generally sessile. Seed: appendage generally 0 (present in Moehringia).
Genera In Family: +- 100 genera, 3000 species: widespread, especially arctic, alpine, temperate northern hemisphere; some cultivated (Agrostemma, Arenaria, Atocion, Cerastium, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Sagina, Saponaria, Silene). Note: Apetalous Caryophyllaceae can also be keyed in Rabeler & Hartman 2005 FNANM 5:5--8. Taxa of Minuartia in TJM2 treated here in Cherleria and Sabulina; Pseudostellaria in Hartmaniella and Torreyostellaria; Vaccaria in Gypsophila; Velezia in Dianthus.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin & Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: StellariaView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Common Name: CHICKWEED, STARWORT
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, erect to prostrate; taprooted, rhizomed. Stem: 4-angled or round. Leaf: petioled or not; linear to ovate, vein 1. Inflorescence: terminal or axillary, umbel-like or not, open to dense; flowers 1--many (if 1, axillary); peduncles, pedicels 0.8--50+ mm. Flower: sepals 5(6), free, 1.5--5.5 mm, lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to glandular-hairy, ribs in fruit 1--3, generally visible to prominent; petals 0 or (1)5, 0.8--7 mm, 2-lobed > 1/2 to base; stamens 10 or fewer; styles 3(4--5 in Stellaria calycantha), 0.2--2.8 mm. Fruit: capsule, +- ovoid or spheric to cylindric-oblong; valves 6(8,10), ascending to recurved. Seed: several to many, brown to +- yellow, +- red, or purple-brown.
Etymology: (Latin: star, from flower shape) Note: Presence of papillae on leaf margins determined at 20×. Stellaria obtusa now treated in Engellaria.
eFlora Treatment Author: Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler
Reference: Morton 2005 FNANM 5:96--114; Sharples & Tripp 2019 Syst Bot 44:857--876.
Unabridged Reference: Chinnappa & Morton 1991 Rhodora 93:129--135; Morton & Rabeler 1989 Canad J Bot 67:121--127; Morton 2005 FNANM 5:96--114
Stellaria calycantha (Ledeb.) Bong.
NATIVE
Habit: Perennial herb, prostrate to erect, 5--25 cm, often glabrous; rhizome white. Stem: internodes glabrous or with wavy scattered hairs, not papillate. Leaf: +- evenly spaced; blade 3--25 mm, elliptic to ovate; margin +- not papillate, flat to wavy, shiny, ciliate or not. Inflorescence: terminal or axillary, 1--few-flowered; bracts leaf-like; pedicels ascending to erect, in fruit often recurved. Flower: sepals 5, 1.5--2.5 mm, < 3 mm in fruit, ovate to elliptic, +- acute, glabrous, margin scarious, veins generally 1--3, obscure; petals (0)1--5, 0.3--0.5 × sepals; styles generally 0.5--0.9 mm, thick, outcurved. Seed: 0.7--0.9 mm, red-brown, +- smooth or minutely roughened. Chromosomes: 2n=26.
Ecology: Mossy banks, bogs, dry creeks, wet meadows, shaded areas; Elevation: 1700--3800 m. Bioregional Distribution: KR, NCoRO, NCoRI, CaRF, SN, SnGb, SnBr, SnJt, Wrn, W&I; Distribution Outside California: to Alaska, Montana, New Mexico; northeastern Asia. Flowering Time: Jun--Aug
Synonyms: Stellaria calycantha subsp. interior Hultén; Stellaria calycantha var. simcoei (Howell) Fernald
Jepson eFlora Author: Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler
Reference: Morton 2005 FNANM 5:96--114; Sharples & Tripp 2019 Syst Bot 44:857--876.
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Stellaria borealis subsp. sitchana
Next taxon: Stellaria crispa

Botanical illustration including Stellaria calycanthabotanical illustration including Stellaria calycantha


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Citation for this treatment: Ronald L. Hartman (deceased) & Richard K. Rabeler 2012, Stellaria calycantha, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=45466, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.

Stellaria calycantha
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©2017 Steve Matson
Stellaria calycantha
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©2017 Steve Matson
Stellaria calycantha
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©2015 Steve Matson
Stellaria calycantha
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©2013 Dylan Neubauer
Stellaria calycantha
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©2017 Steve Matson

More photos of Stellaria calycantha
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Geographic subdivisions for Stellaria calycantha:
KR, NCoRO, NCoRI, CaRF, SN, SnGb, SnBr, SnJt, Wrn, W&I
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map of distribution 1

(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).






 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.

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View all CCH records
All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
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CCH collections by month Flowering-Fruiting Monthly Counts

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).