Carnation & Campion (Pink) Family [Caryophyllaceae] |
status
flower
inner
morph
petals
5 (10)petals
stem
27th June 2015, Knowsley Safari Park, Prescot, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
A low-lying sprawling mass occupying wettish areas. Flowers small and above the sprawl; it can reach heights of up to 40cm. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Grows up to 40cm in bogs and mires but not necessarily in acidic soils, it occurs throughout the UK. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves are elliptical to oval like many Chickweeds, but unlike most other Stitchworts. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Most leaves sessile (without stalks), joined directly onto the stem (except for those on sterile stems which do have stalks). Flowers have 5 deeply-cleft petals. Both main stems and flower petioles are square. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves amplexicaul (fused together in opposite pairs without stalks across the stem). |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Bracts scarious apart from a green mid-line (not shown). Stamens have lost their anthers. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Sepals shorter than petals. Petals deeply cleft, with the two halves swivelled apart by maybe 72° so as to be nearly parallel with adjacent petals. This seems to be an identifying feature not mentioned in other texts - your Author thinks that no other Stitchwort exhibits this un-mentioned characteristic. Pale-cream coloured anthers. Flower going to seed top left. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The developing fruits can just be seen within the finished flowers. |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Growing in wet mud! |
12th June 2009, Greenside Mines, Glenridding, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Stems angular, often square, with the ridges being smooth (not rough). Tips of many leaves terminated by a small dark bobble, being a pore (hydathode) to allow excess water out. Stems purportedly glabrous (without hairs). |
27th June 2015, Knowsley Safari Park, Prescot, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
A hand held specimen, it is not really this tall! |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
27th June 2015, Knowsley Safari Park, Prescot, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
27th June 2015, Knowsley Safari Park, Prescot, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
Has 10 stamens with creamy pollen and three white slightly-fuzzy long stigmas in the centre. |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
Side view of flower. The petals 'float' above the sepals. |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
The five (always longer than the petals) sepals have a paler margin around their edges. The sepals taper linearly to a point. Of worthy note is the way in which the 5 petals [not ten!] on Bog Stitchwort are deeply-cleft (almost to their centres). But not only that, they diverge widely from one another, doing the splits, such that the 'pairs' which are closest actually belong to two adjacent petals! |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers have 10 filaments, only 5 of which here have pollen grains at the top. Bog Stitchwort has three slightly shorter white styles at the top of the green ovary in the centre. |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves terminated by water-exuding hydathodes; flower stalks fairly long. |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
Stems square (ignore the moss which also grows in wet acidic places and ignore the diagonally-crossing grass leaves). |
3rd July 2010, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
The stem broadens out considerably to meet the flower. Nominally 10 anthers all present and correct. |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
Most leaves end in a water-exuding hydathode (but not the sepals). |
3rd July 2010, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
Leaves tipped by Hydathodes. |
4th May 2019, Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge, Lancs | Photo: © RWD |
The hydathodes at the pointy end of leaves. Leaf stems are square. |
Some similarities to : Marsh Stitchwort (Stellaria palustris) which also likes wet ground, but that grows in base-rich (alkaline) soils such as fens and wet lowland grassland (rather than having a preference for acidic soils). Marsh Stitchwort is slightly longer at 60cm (rather than 40cm) and has linear-lanceolate leaves (rather than elliptic/oval) and the petals are longer than the sepals (or just slightly longer) rather than shorter. Moreover, the petals, although cleaved almost to the base, are so angled as to appear as 10 evenly-spaced petals (rather than split so wide apart that adjacent petal halves almost meet). Slight resemblance to : Water Chickweed (Myosotion aquaticum) but that is usually far bigger at 20-100cm (rather than the 5-20cm of Bog Stitchwort), grows in wettish basic soils (rather than much preferring acidic soils).
Has characters which are intermediate between
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Stellaria | alsine | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Caryophyllaceae |
Stellaria (Stitchworts) |
Carnation & Campion (Pink) Family [Caryophyllaceae] |