Stellaria media (L.) Villars   Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)   Eurasia   Common Chickweed     Starwort

                                           March Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Annual with weak procumbent stems 1-4 dm. long and with a line of hair running down each internode; lvs. ovate, acute, 1-3 cm. long, short-petioled or the upper sessile; cymes leafy; sepals five, pubescent, ovate, 4-5 mm. long; petals five, 2-parted,  or wanting, white, shorter than the sepals; caps ovoid, slightly exceeding calyx; seeds minute, roughened.    

Habitat:  Common weed in shaded places, such as in orchards, etc., through most of cismontane Calif.  Feb.-Sept.

Name:  Latin, stella, a star, because of the star-shaped fls.  Latin, medius, middle.  (Jaeger 151).  This species is midway in size between two others that are not native here.  (Dale 94).

General:  Rare in the study area having been found only once and this in the 23rd St. area about 100 feet from the street end on the southerly side.  Found in 1993, a wet year and in subsequent wet years the plant has been found in this same location (my comments).   It is one of the earliest weeds in California, often coming up in onion fields, asparagus beds, with peas, and other crops during rainy springs, and giving trouble before the soil is dry enough to cultivate.  (Robbins et al. 185).       Chickweed is widely used raw or as a potherb in Europe, where it is native.  Indians used the tiny seeds for bread or to thicken soup.  It is one of the few herbs possessing a good copper content.  Chickweed was once sold in the streets to be cooked, used as a poultice for abscesses and carbuncles, or infused into a tea to comfort troubled stomachs or to slim down fat people.  It can be used in sandwiches or salads or cooked like asparagus tips.  It shrinks when cooked so a good supply is needed.  Its bland flavor goes well with stronger greens such as Chicory or mustard.  The tender leaves are relished by game birds and songbirds.  (Clarke 188).      The fresh plant (mashed for a poultice), the fresh plant juice, the tincture, or the salve are all useful topically for swellings.  Deeper pain contusions are too far into the body for Chickweed to help.  The dry plant is a useful diuretic for premenstrual water retention, or retention in athletes using steroids.  (Moore, Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West 32).      For constipation when the bowels are completely obstructed, take three heaping tablespoonfuls of the fresh herb, boil in one quart of water down to one pint.  Take a cupful warm every three hours or more often until the desired results are obtained.  Anyone who is covered with any kind of sores should take a chickweed herb bath, and then apply the chickweed salve.  (Kloss 232).      This herb is used for liver ailments (internally and externally), bronchitis, pleurisy, coughs, hoarseness, rheumatism, inflammation or weakness of the bowels and stomach, lungs, bronchial tubes, scurvy, to ease hemorrhoids; to release the small vessels that transmit blood from the liver into the hepatic veins, making them more pliable.  This so-called common plant could be

Stellaria media, page two

included among the all-purpose herbals.  (Hutchens 66).      A genus of about 100 species of wide distribution.  (Abrams, Vol. II 137).

Text Ref:  Abrams, Vol. II 138; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 348; Roberts 18.

Photo Ref:  Dec-April 92-93 # 13,19; Mar 95 # 5,7.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.

First Found:  March 1993.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 448.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 3/1/05.

                 March Photo                                              March Photo