Stellaria alsine

Stellaria alsine, the bog stitchwort, is a species of herbaceous plant in the genus Stellaria, found in bogs and marshes in Europe and parts of North America.

Stellaria alsine
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Caryophyllaceae
Genus: Stellaria
Species:
S. alsine
Binomial name
Stellaria alsine
Grimm
Synonyms

Stellaria uliginosa Murray

Description

Bog stitchwort is a rhizomatous perennial plant, with smooth, four-angled stems up to 40 cm (16 in) tall.[1] Its leaves are opposite and narrow, up to 13 mm (0.51 in) long, with untoothed margins but a few marginal hairs towards the leaf-base.[1] The flowers are borne in cymes of 1–5, arising from the axils of the higher leaves. Each flower is around 6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter, with 10 stamens, 3 stigmas, five lanceolate–triangular, green-coloured but scarious-margined sepals, and five slightly shorter white petals.[1] The petals are divided into two almost to their base with the two halves angled apart,[1] so that the two halves of each petal lie over parts of adjacent sepals.[2]

Ecology

Bog stitchwort grows in various types of wetland habitat; in the British Isles, it is especially characteristic of areas poached by cattle.[3] It flowers in spring and early summer.[1]

Distribution

Bog stitchwort is widespread in central and western Europe, but is rarer in eastern and southern Europe and the northern half of Scandinavia.[4] It is thought to be native to eastern parts of North America, but to be an introduced species in the Pacific Northwest.[1] It has also become naturalised in South America, in Asia, where it has become a weed of rice fields,[5] and on the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, where it is an aggressive invasive species.[6]

Taxonomy

Stellaria alsine was first described by Johann Friedrich Carl Grimm in 1767.[1] The species has also been widely referred to under the junior synonym Stellaria uliginosa.[7]

References
  1. Morton, John K. (1993). "Stellaria Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 421. 1753. Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 193. 1754". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae, Part 2. Flora of North America. 5. Oxford University Press. pp. 99–114. ISBN 978-0-19-522211-1.
  2. Farmer, Carl. "Bog stitchwort, Stellaria uliginosa". West Highland Flora. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  3. "Stellaria uliginosa". Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. Biological Records Centre. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  4. Jalas, Jaakko; Suominen, Juha, eds. (1988). Distribution of Vascular Plants in Europe. Atlas Florae Europaeae. 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-521-34272-8.
  5. "Stellaria alsine Grimm, bog stitchwort". Go Botany. Native Plant Trust. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  6. Comité français de l'UICN (IUCN French Committee) & IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG). "Stellaria alsine". Global Invasive Species Database. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  7. Llewellyn, Peter (2012-02-12). "Stellaria alsine, bog stitchwort". Wild Flowers of Europe, Australia, Ireland and Britain. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
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