Stellaria longifolia (Long-Leaved Stitchwort) - photos and description
15 cm ruler
General: Weak-stemmed perennial, decumbent to erect, branching growth habit. Stems are slightly catchy with minute bristles, stems feel rough to touch.
Flowers: Flowers in an open cyme, have 5 deeply cleft petals. Flowers white, measured to 7 mm diameter. Flower petals are slightly longer than sepals, petals measured at 5 mm long and sepals to 4 mm long.
Leaves: Cauline, leaves are opposite, linear, tapered at both ends. Leaf measured 35 mm long and 3 mm wide.
Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora to 40 cm, we measured plants to 37 cm.
Habitat: Moist, shady places in woodlands.
Abundance: Common.
Origin: Native.
How to identify this species: Stems slightly catchy, leaves linear, and tapered at both ends (Taxonomic Reminder for Recognizing Saskatchewan Plants).
When and where photographed: Took the above photos July 12th, growing in sphagnum moss, on edge of a stand of spruce trees, swampy ground, Nisbet Forest, about 450 km north of our home in Regina, SK.