Stellaria media (L.) Vill., Caryophyllaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: chick weed, common chickweed, satin-flower, starwort, stitchwort

French: morgéline, mouron des oiseaux, stellaire intermédiaire

Japanese: hakobe, kohakobe

Spanish: bocado de gallina, borrisol, morrons, pamplina, pararera, picagallina, quilloi quilloi, revola, yerba gallinera

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Slender annual or perennial herbs; stems trailing, matted, or weakly ascending, 1-8 dm long, pubescent in lines.  Leaves ovate to elliptic, (0.5-) 1-3 (-4) cm long, (0.3-) 0.8-1.5 (-2) cm wide, base rounded to cuneate, petioles 0-2 cm long, often ciliate.  Pedicels ascending to recurved; sepals 3.5-6 mm long, villous, apex obtuse to acute; petals slightly shorter than the sepals, 2-cleft, or sometimes absent; stamens 3-10.  Capsules ovoid, 3.5-7 mm long.  Seeds reddish brown, suborbicular, 1-1.1 mm long, papillose"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 526-528).

Habitat/ecology:  "Found in cultivated fields, pastures, gardens, shady lawns, roadsides, and neglected lands.  Because it prefers cool, moist, shady places, it thrives in orchards, nurseries of all kinds, vineyards, and under shrubs and trees.  [It] will grow on a very wide range of soils, but it prefers a neutral pH and does not like acid conditions.  It makes a very luxuriant growth when nitrogen is plentiful" (Holm et al., 1977; p. 452). In Hawai‘i, "naturalized primarily in mesic sites, 50-3,950 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 526-528).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Eurasia, widely naturalized" (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 526-528).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced	Pickard, J. (1984) (p. 206)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 19) "A common weed of cultivated and disturbed soil". Vouchers cited: A.N. Rodd 1479 (K, NSW), G. Uhe 1260 (K)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 8) "A common weed of cultivated and disturbed soil". Vouchers cited: G. Uhe 1112 (K), P.S. Green 2398 (K)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 526-528)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 526-528)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kure Atoll	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 526-528)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 526-528) Voucher cited: Munro 488 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 526-528)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 526-528)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	introduced	Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)
New Caledonia Récifs D'Entrecasteaux (D'Entrecasteaux Reefs)	Île Huon	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 28) Voucher cited: Denizot s.n.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 28) Vouchers cited: Pancher s.n. (1862), MacKee 4968, MacKee 40671
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île des Pins (Isle of Pines)	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 28) Vouchers cited: Baumann 13920, MacKee 33819
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
Pitcairn Islands Pitcairn Islands	Pitcairn Island	introduced	St. John, H. (1987) (p. 33)
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Midway Atoll	Midway Atoll	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2003) (p. 26) Voucher cited: Starr & Martz 010520-2 (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Li-ying, Li/Ren, Wang/Waterhouse, D. F. (1997) (p. 174)
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
South Korea South Korea	South Korea (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 508) "Grassland, waste land, roadsides, coastal sandy sites, damp sites, cultivated land, disturbed stony sites, riverbeds".
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island		Li-ying, Li/Ren, Wang/Waterhouse, D. F. (1997) (p. 174)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island	introduced invasive	Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. (1977) (p. 452)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Stellaria media is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Stellaria media as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Stellaria media may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Holm, Leroy G./Plucknett, D. L./Pancho, J. V./Herberger, J. P. 1977. The world’s worst weeds: distribution and biology. East-West Center/University Press of Hawaii. 609 pp.

Kato, Hidetoshi. 2007. Herbarium records of Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Personal communication.

Li-ying, Li/Ren, Wang/Waterhouse, D. F. 1997. The distribution and importance of arthropod pests and weeds of agriculture and forestry plantations in southern China. ACIAR, Canberra, Australia. 185 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Orchard, Anthony E., ed. 1994. Flora of Australia. Vol. 49, Oceanic islands 1. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Pickard, J. 1984. Exotic plants on Lord Howe Island: Distribution in space and time, 1853-1981. J. of Biogeography 11:181-208.

St. John, H. 1987. An account of the flora of Pitcairn Island with new Pandanus species. Honolulu, 65 pp.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2003. New plant records from the Hawaiian Archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 74:23-34.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Wiggins, I. L./Porter, D. M. 1971. Flora of the Galapágos Islands. Stanford University Press. 998 pp.