Stellaria alsine
Common names
bog stitchwort
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Simplified description
Small herb with thin straggling stems, often scrambling through taller vegetation, leaves lance-shaped, usually up to 12 mm long and 5 mm wide in pairs along the stem, with small groups of flowers up to 6 mm across, the green sepals longer than the white divided petals.
Flower colours
Green, White
Detailed description
Perennial. Stems weak, ascending, 4-angled, glabrous, (8)-10-20-(50) cm long. Lvs green, sessile except on overwintering vegetative shoots, connate in pairs, lanceolate to oblanceolate to narrow-oblong, becoming linear-lanceolate above, tapering gradually to acute apex and glabrous or ciliate base, (5)-8-12-(25) × 2-5-(8) mm; margins usually closely undulate when dry; marginal vein ± distinct. Infl. axillary, cymose, lax, (1)-3-10-flowered. Bracts narrow-lanceolate, not keeled, scarious with green midrib, glabrous, 1.5-3 mm long. Pedicels slender, erecto-patent to patent, glabrous, 8-18 mm long. Sepals narrow-triangular, acute, 3-veined, (2)-2.5-3 mm long; margins scarious, glabrous. Petals < sepals. Stamens 10. Capsule narrow-ovoid, = sepals. Seeds red-brown, c. 0.5 mm long, with very short tubercles.
Similar taxa
Similar to stitchwort (S. graminea), but has shorter, relatively broader leaves, fewer flowered inflorescences and divided petals shorter than the sepals.
Distribution
Scattered throughout the North, South and Stewart Islands, with the exception of Northland and Auckland.
Habitat
Wide range of wet habitats including water body margins, wet pasture, seepages and roadsides.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
September to May
Fruiting
November to May
Year naturalised
1899
Origin
Europe
Reason for introduction
Unknown, seed or soil contaminant
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Life cycle and dispersal
Seed dispersed by water and contaminated machinery.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Other information
Etymology
stellaria: Star flower
alsine: Like a chickweed, from the Greek alsos ‘grove’ often the habitat of chickweeds
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
STEALS
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch.
Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989). Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.
Attribution
Prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Features description from Webb et al. (1988).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.