Beach Starwort

Stellaria littoralis is very similar to S. dichotoma Linnaeus from China, the Russian Far East, and Siberia. It may be conspecific with the latter and may have been introduced into the San Francisco area in the early days of exploration of the Pacific coast. A more detailed study is warranted.

Plants perennial, straggling to scandent, from elongate rhizomes. Stems ascending, often decumbent at base, branched, 4-sided, 10-60 cm, uniformly and softly pubes-cent. Leaves sessile; blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, widest proxi-mal to middle, 1-4.5 cm × 4-20 mm, base round, margins densely ciliate, apex shortly acuminate, pubescent on both surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, 5-many-flowered, leafy cymes; bracts foliaceous, 4-40 mm, margins ciliate, not scarious. Pedicels ascending to erect, straight, spreading to reflexed at base in fruit, 5-20 mm. Flowers 9-10 mm diam.; sepals (4-)5, 3-veined, lanceolate, 2.8-5 mm, margins narrow, scarious, apex acuminate, ciliate-pubescent mainly on margins and veins; petals 5, 4-6 mm, equaling or slightly longer than sepals, blade apex deeply 2-fid; stamens 10; styles 3, ascending, ca. 1.5 mm. Capsules green to straw colored, lanceoloid-ovoid, 5-6 mm, slightly longer than sepals, apex obtuse, opening by 3, tardily 6, ascending valves; carpophore absent. Seeds reddish brown, broadly and obliquely ovate, ± 1 mm diam., minutely rugose.

Calif.

Flowering spring.

Marshy fields, marshes, coastal bluffs; less than 100m.

Stellaria littoralis is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name beach starwort. It is endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area and North Coast of California, where it grows in moist coast habitat, such as marshes, bogs, and coastal bluffs. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing sprawling, branching stems which are four-angled and hairy in texture, reaching up to about 60 centimeters long. The lance-shaped or pointed oval leaves are up to 4.5 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in pairs. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five hairy, pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. There are five white petals, each so deeply lobed it appears to be two.

This plant is similar to its Asian relative Stellaria dichotoma, and it may actually be a population of that species that was introduced to the California coast long ago.