Marsh Stitchwort - Stellaria palustris

Short to medium, greyish, creeping plant with erect, square, smooth stems. Leaves linear-lanceolate. Flowers are white and few, in a lax cluster, 12 to 18 mm, petals cleft almost to the base, and up to twice as long as the sepals.

other chickweeds, especially S graminea 

Petals split ('bifid') almost to base, and longer than sepals; styles 3; stems glabrous and angled, square in section; leaves entirely glabrous.

Records from this species should be confirmed by a County Recorder for botany.  It is on the VC55 Rare Plant Register, and therefore a specimen should not be taken.  Take detailed field photos and submit to NatureSpot as soon as possible; and if you think you have found it in a new location, inform the County Recorder as soon you can. (RPR)

Wet grassy habitats, marshes and fens.

May to July.

Perennial.

Local but widespread in Britain, except in the north of Scotland.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi & Evans, 1988) it was present in 3 tetrads out of 617, and in 1 tetrads in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger, 1971)

It is on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall & Woodward 2022) as Rare; recent records from Lockington Marshes.