04.07.20 Bright Stars

The forest behind our home was literally carpeted with these tiny twinkling blossoms on our Sunday walk. This is Star Chickweed, Stellaria pubera. It’s a gorgeous little flower apparently related to a carnation. But it is small, less than 1/2 inch in diameter. It appears to have ten petals, but close examination reveals there are actually five double petals, each shaped like a “V”. This spring wildflower has a cousin which arrived here from the old country, Stellaria media. It is very similar but with even tinier flowers. You have probably weeded some from your flower or vegetable garden.

Print from an early twentieth-century German flower guide by J. Sturm, E.H.L. Krause, and K.G. Lutz. This looks like Stellaria media not pubera.