UMass Extension Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry Program

Stellaria media

Common Name: 
common chickweed, starweed, starwort
Scientific Name: 
Stellaria media (L.) Vill.
Family Name: 
Caryophyllaceae - Pink Family
Identification Notes
Life Cycle: 
introduced winter annual, reproducing by seed
Stems: 
prostate with end ascending, light green, branched, single row of hairs, rooting at nodes
Stems of Common Chickweed
Stems of Common Chickweed
Stems of Common Chickweed
Leaves: 
opposite, broadly ovate to heart-shaped, tips pointed, lower petioled, upper sessile, petioles with single row of hairs
Leaves of Common Chickweed
Flowers: 
5-petaled white, deeply notched (appear to be 10-petaled), sepals long; solitary or clustered, terminal and axillary
Flowers of Common Chickweed