Common Chickweed - Stellaria media

Alternative names
Chickweed
Description

Low to short, often semi prostrate plant, stems with a line of hairs that changes sides at each pair of leaves. Flowers white, 8 to 10 mm with 3 styles, petals bifid.

Similar Species

Other chickweeds, especially S neglecta, S alsine, S pallida, and Myosoton (Stellaria) aquaticum

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

5 petals, split so there appears to be 10; 3 styles; 1 line of hairs down stems between nodes; 3 - 5 (sometimes 8) stamens. 

Recording advice

Details of flowers and stems

Habitat

Cultivated land, roadside verges, farmyards, etc.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Very common throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 605 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as frequent

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Chickweed, Common Chickweed
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Caryophyllales
Family:
Caryophyllaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
323
First record:
11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
Last record:
04/04/2024 (Smith, Peter)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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