Perennial herb with rhizomes 10 - 40 cm tall Stem: upright, branched, four-angled, with alternating lines of soft, spreading hairs. Leaves: opposite, stalked (lower), nearly stalkless (upper), 1 - 5 cm long, 5 mm - 1.6 cm wide, elliptic or broadly lance-shaped or egg-shaped with a tapering base and pointed tip, one-veined, with a few hairs along the midrib. Inflorescence: a terminal, forking cluster (dichotomously branched cyme) of three to seven flowers, subtended by a pair of bracts. Bracts leaf-like, 5 mm - 3 cm long, lance-shaped. Flowers: white, 1 - 1.6 cm wide. Stalk upright, 5 mm - 4.5 cm long, softly hairy. Stamens ten. Styles three. Sepals: five, distinct, green, 7 - 10 mm long, narrowly triangular to lance-shaped with a pointed tip, membranous-margined, with hairy-fringed margins. Petals: five, white, equal to or slightly shorter than sepals, deeply two-lobed (giving the appearance of ten petals). Fruit: a dehiscent capsule, opening by three valves, straw-colored to light brown, about 5 mm long, shorter than the sepals, broadly egg-shaped with a blunt apex. Seeds brown, about 2 mm wide, broadly kidney-shaped, laterally compressed, coarsely grooved-bumpy.

Similar species: Typical Stellaria pubera differs by having shorter, egg-shaped sepals.

Flowering: May

Habitat and ecology: Rare in the Chicago Region. Has been found on limestone bluffs in rich woods.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Stellaria comes from the Latin words stella, meaning star, and -aria meaning "pertaining to," referring to the shape of the flowers. Pubera means hairy. Sylvatica means "of the forest."

Author: The Morton Arboretum