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Long-leaved chickweed

Long-leaved chickweed

Stellaria longifolia

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How common: Common

Long-leaved chickweed is a delicate, patch-forming perennial of damp, shady forests. It has thin, many-branched stems and tiny white, star-like flowers. The species is native to the cool northern forest zone of Europe, Asia and North America.

Did you know?

  • The white petals are split so deeply that each flower looks like it has ten petals.
  • It often spreads into tight patches in forest clearings after logging.

About the species

Identification

A slender perennial 15–25 cm tall, often in dense patches. Stems thin, four-angled and much branched, feeling slightly rough near the base. Leaves come in pairs, 1–3 cm long, narrow and pale to yellowish green, widest just above the middle; edges feel rough and there may be a few tiny hairs at the base. Many small white flowers on branching stalks; each petal is 2–3 mm and split into two, about as long as the green points behind them. The fruit is a small brown capsule. Compared with grass-leaved stitchwort (Stellaria graminea), it favors damp shade and has paler, softer-looking leaves. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

heath forest, mire

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Prefers moist, shaded ground: damp conifer woods, wet woodland and springy spots, rocky rich forest slopes, riverbank thickets and clearings. Found throughout the country; common south of Oulu, rarer farther north and in Åland.

Sources

Photo: Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6333930348

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Saxifraga-Silene, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38056

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mets%C3%A4t%C3%A4htim%C3%B6

See also