Chickweed Stellaria media

LATIN NAME: Stellaria media

COMMON NAME: Common Chickweed

The chickweed spreads its small, starry, white flowers among the pointed leaves, and the slender, trailing stems root at the nodes. The low, spreading, annual plant carries the small, pointed, oval, bright-green leaves on the slender, trailing stems and the small, star-shaped, white flowers with the deeply notched petals through the cool months, one of the fine, steady sights of the moist verge, holding the ground with the ease. The young shoots have a long record as the fine, mild, tender greens of the old tables, and the plant is a fine, historic presence of the garden edge. It is a plant of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The chickweed is a historic subject of the plant science, and the starry flowers keep showing up in the work on the weedy greens. The way the small, star-shaped, white flowers with the deeply notched petals open along the trailing stems has been studied steadily, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the weedy greens, the edible wild plants and the members of the pink family. The pointed leaves and the spreading habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the chickweed is a regular subject of the work on the starry flowers of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The chickweed is a fine, steady plant of the garden edge and the moist verge. The small, star-shaped, white flowers with the deeply notched petals open through the cool months, one of the fine, steady sights of the moist verge, and the young shoots have a long record as the fine, mild, tender greens of the old tables, the fresh leaves coming to the salads and the soups of the early spring. The plant is one of the fine choices for the garden edge, the green patch and the study collection, and it has been written up in the culinary and the botanical papers for the tender greens and the very long history. It is a fine, steady plant of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained garden.

Sow in the early spring or the autumn for the cool greens, and the starry flowers will spread fast.

To grow the chickweed from seed, scatter the small, brown seeds over the surface of the pot of moist, gritty soil, without covering them, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings are up within a week or two and grow on fast. With the sun or the light shade and the deep, moist, well-drained ground, the starry flowers will spread through the cool months.

Uses: Culinary/Medicinal