NC INVASIVE PLANT COUNCIL
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Common Chickweed

​Stellaria media
​Common chickweed (Stellaria media), also commonly known as winterweed, is a cool season annual, somewhat succulent, low-growing herb. Native to Europe, this chickweed prefers wet or damp disturbed woodland areas, cultivated areas, and roadsides. Chickweed can create dense mats of shoots, up to 12 inches long, shading and out-competing young seedlings and other native plants. It has been noted that chickweed contains poisonous glycosides and high levels of nitrate.
 
Common chickweed stems are green or burgundy, prostrate-, up to about 12 inches long, with longitudinal line of hairs. Leaves are opposite, oval, light-green, usually about 2 centimeters long, and pointed at the tip. Small white flowers bloom during late fall through early spring. The flowers consist of 5 bifid or split petals that give the appearance of 10 petals. The root system is shallow and fibrous. Common chickweed can reproduce by reseeding itself, or it can spread vegetatively by rooting at the leaf nodes along the stem.  Common chickweed can produce approximately 800 seeds in late fall to early spring and it takes 7 to 8 years for the seed bank (supply of viable seeds in soil) to be 95% depleted.  Common chickweed has been observed in the Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain of North Carolina.
Fact Sheet: Common Chickweed
Picture
Photo Credit: Rebekah D. Wallace, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
Picture
Photo Credit: Rebekah D. Wallace, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
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  • Home
  • About
    • Donate
    • Invasives 101
    • Membership
    • Board of Directors >
      • NC-IPC ByLaws
    • Contact
    • Listserve
  • News
    • Iverson Scholarship
    • Wildland Weeds Magazine
    • Calendar >
      • 2018 Workshop
  • NC Invasive Plants
    • Ailanthus Altissima (Tree-of-Heaven)
    • Elaeagnus umbellata (Autumn Olive)
    • Ficaria verna (Fig Buttercup)
    • Imperata cylindrica (Cogongrass)
    • Ligustrum sinense (Chinese Privet)
    • Ligustrum vulgare (Wild Privet)
    • Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle)
    • Microstegium vimineum (Japanese Stilt Grass)
    • Nandina domestica
    • Nymphoides indica (water snowflake)
    • Paulownia tomentosa (Princess Tree)
    • Persicaria perfoliata (Mile-A-Minute Vine)
    • Pueraria montana (Kudzu)
    • Pyrus calleryana (Bradford Pear)
  • Annual Symposiums
    • 2022 Joint Symposium >
      • 2022 Speaker Presentations
    • 2021 Virtual Conference
    • 2019 Joint Symposium >
      • 2019 Presentations
    • 2018 Annual Symposium
    • 2017 Annual Symposium
    • 2016 Annual Symposium >
      • 2016 agenda
    • 2015 Annual Symposium >
      • 2015 Presentations
      • 2015 Agenda
  • Projects
    • Fig Buttercup Project
    • Eno River Hydrilla Project
    • Awareness Week
  • Awards
    • 2015 Student Competition Winners
    • 2015 EIA Award
    • 2014 EIA Award