Stellaria neglecta

Greater chickweed, Greater Chickweed

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Greater chickweed is a naturalized annual herb found in the North Coast Ranges, Tehama County, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, southern California Coast, San Gabriel Mountains, and Peninsular Ranges in disturbed areas, fields, and cultivated areas at elevations below 400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers with five delicate petals about half the length of its sepals. Growing with ascending to erect stems 30 to 60 centimeters tall, it develops a slender taproot and stems with distinctive line-arranged hairs between leaf nodes. Its broadly ovate leaves are 8 to 50 millimeters long, often with ciliate margins near the base and a shiny, flat appearance. The plant produces brown or purple-brown seeds with small conical tubercles, particularly noticeable along the seed margins.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, fields, cultivated areas

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 400(600) m

Bioregions: NCoRO, Teh, GV, SnFrB, SCo, SnGb, PR

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.