STELLARIA CUPANIANA

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE/S. MEDIA Group

Common Names:- Southern chickweed

Synonyms:- Stellaria media ssp. cupaniana, Stellaria media var. postii.

Meaning:- Stellaria (L) With spreading rays, star-like.

Cupaniana (L) For the Italian monk Francesco Cupani (1657-1711),

botanist and author of works on Sicilian plants.

General description:- Annual.

Stems:-

1) Up to 90 cm, pubescent all round and usually throughout, usually glandular.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, entire, puberulent or glandular-pubescent.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, densely glandular-pubescent, lax or dense.

2) Petals, 5 white variable in length; shorter than the sepals and deeply bifid nearly

to their base,appearing to be with10 narrow petals.

3) Sepals, 5 about 5 mm long, oblong-lanceolate with obtuse to acute tips.

4) Stamens, usually 5-10.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, glabrous with about 15 seeds.

2) Seeds, usually 1·3-1·5 mm, tuberculate, round.

Key features:-

1) Stems hairy all round.

2) Sepals usually more than 3 mm.

3) Seeds usually more than 0·8 mm, dark reddish-brown.

4) Petals present (rarely minute or absent).

Habitat:- Damp meadows, streambeds, open woods, orchards, wasteground. 0-

1700 m.

Distribution:- Widespread throughout the C & E Mediterranean region. Widespread

and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mainly Mar-May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton