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Stellaria media
Also called Little mouse-ear chickweed, Chickweed, Nodding Chickweed, Lesser Chickweed
Common chickweed is a low, sprawling annual weed of Eurasian origin, grown in gardens mainly as a salad leaf. It is a hardy plant that grows readily in cool, damp conditions and sets seed quickly.
Stellaria media, chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world, where it is a weed of waste ground, farmland and gardens. It is sometimes grown as a salad crop or for poultry consumption.
Chickweed contains plant chemicals known as saponins, which can be toxic to some species (notably fish). It is unlikely that most land animals will be affected, as the quantities involved are not large. However, it is not advised during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
Stellaria media is widespread in Asia, Europe, North America, and other parts of the world. There are several closely related plants referred to as chickweed, but which lack the culinary properties of plants in the genus Stellaria.
Stellaria media is edible and nutritious, and is used as a leaf vegetable, often raw in salads. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese springtime festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku. Some varieties or similar species may be too fibrous to eat.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Stellaria media by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
