Stellaria media

Stellaria media, chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the carnation family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Europe, but naturalized in many parts of North America. It is used as a cooling herbal remedy, and grown as a vegetable crop and ground cover for both human consumption and poultry. It is sometimes called common chickweed to distinguish it from other plants called chickweed. Other common names include chickenwort, craches, maruns, and winterweed. The plant germinates in autumn or late winter, then forms large mats of foliage. The plants are annual and with weak slender stems, they reach a length up to 40 cm. Sparsely hairy, with hairs in a line along the stem. The leaves are oval and opposite, the lower ones with stalks. Flowers are white and small with 5 very deeply lobed petals. The stamens are usually 3 and the styles 3. The flowers are followed quickly by the seed pods. This plant flowers and sets seed at the same time. Stellaria media is widespread in North America, Europe and Asia. There are several closely related plants referred to as chickweed, but which lack the culinary properties of plants in the genus Stellaria. Plants in the genus Cerastium are very similar in appearance to Stellaria and are in the same family (Caryophyllaceae). Stellaria has fine hairs on only one side of the stem in a single band and on the sepals. Other members of the family Caryophyllaceae which resemble Stellaria have hairs uniformly covering the entire stem. It usually has 3 styles:459, 3-5, occasionally 8 stamens, variously stated as 8 stamens by Keble Martin and (1-)3(-8) by Clapham, Tutin and Warburg.:89 Very common in lawns, meadows, waste places and open areas. The larvae of the European moth yellow shell (Camptogramma bilineata), of North American moths pale-banded dart (Agnorisma badinodis) or dusky cutworm (Agrotis venerabilis) or North American butterfly dainty sulphur (Nathalis iole) all feed on chickweed. In both Europe and North America this plant is common in gardens, fields, and disturbed grounds where it grows as a ground cover. Stellaria media is edible and nutritious, and is used as a leaf vegetable, often raw in salads. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku. Stellaria media contains plant chemicals known as saponins, which can be toxic to some species when consumed in large quantities. Chickweed has been known to cause saponin poisoning in cattle. However, as the animal must consume several kilos of chickweed in order to reach a toxic level, such deaths are extremely rare.