Family |
Caryophyllaceae
Stellaria media
(L.) Vill.
Stellaria media (L.) Vill.
First published in Hist. Pl. Dauphiné 3: 615 (1789).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, pp. 474–475, Pl. CLXII, 1; 1966)
Description
Life-form & habit: Spreading annual with prostrate or ascending, soft, pale-green, rounded stems, 10–40 cm long, hairless except for a single line of hairs; description follows Mouterde’s typical subsp. eu-media.
Leaves: Ovate and pointed, the lower long-stalked; size varies from very small to about 2 cm.
Inflorescence & flowers: Leafy, forked cymes terminate the stems, with solitary flowers at the forks. Flower stalks much longer than the flowers. Sepals pale, pointed, weakly veined, sparsely hairy or hairless, with a narrow membranous margin. Petals deeply divided into two and shorter than the calyx, occasionally absent. Usually five stamens, sometimes three or seven, with violet anthers.
Fruit: Oblong capsule exceeding the calyx; seeds brown, tuberculate, rounded and flattened.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: January–May.
Habitat & elevation: Waste ground and cultivated land.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Saida, Beirut, Nahr el Kelb, Tripoli, Abey, Ghazir, Jourd Berkacha, Qamoua forest, the Zahle area and Nahr Hasbani; these records are grouped by Mouterde under subsp. eu-media or without a specified subspecies.
Syrian distribution: Nabi Younes Pass, Sarmada, Afrine, Homs, Hama, Damascus and Kizil Dagh, likewise under the typical or unspecified group.
Recorded locations: Kornet Chehwan.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Assam, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Djibouti, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, East Himalaya, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Føroyar, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, Krym, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Manchuria, Morocco, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Qinghai, Romania, Réunion, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan-South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Yemen.
Introduced into: Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Amsterdam-St.Paul Is., Amur, Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Arkansas, Azores, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, British Columbia, California, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Costa Rica, Crozet Is., Cuba, Delaware, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Falkland Is., Florida, Free State, Galápagos, Georgia, Guatemala, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Gulf States, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jamaica, Jawa, Juan Fernández Is., Kamchatka, Kansas, Kentucky, Kenya, Kerguelen, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Kuril Is., KwaZulu-Natal, Labrador, Leeward Is., Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Louisiana, Macquarie Is., Madeira, Magadan, Maine, Malaya, Manitoba, Marion-Prince Edward Is., Maryland, Massachusetts, Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, Nicaragua, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Provinces, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ogasawara-shoto, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Peru, Philippines, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Rwanda, Sakhalin, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, South Georgia, St.Helena, Svalbard, Tanzania, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Tristan da Cunha, Uruguay, Utah, Venezuela, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Windward Is., Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon, Zimbabwe.
⚠️ Taxonomic note:
Mouterde’s broad S. media account separates several subordinate taxa. The morphology here is restricted to his subsp. eu-media; records explicitly assigned to neglecta, postii or pallida are excluded. Some locality records in his typical group are not identified below species level.