(boreal starwort)
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Stellaria borealis is a perennial matted forb with weak stems and small inconspicuous white flowers. This species grows in scattered moist to wet places and shady spots such as shrub thickets from the boreal zone into the lower alpine zone across Denali. Plants grow 10-35 cm tall, weakly ascending from a thin
rhizome. Stems are freely-branched above the middle
nodes and this species leaves are opposite,
linear-
lanceolate to
elliptic in shape, up to 6 cm long. Flowers are either solitary and terminal, or produced in the
axil of leaves. Flowers are small, with five deeply cleft petals (sometimes petals absent), shorter than the
sepals.
Sepals are green, 2-5 mm long. Flowers are bisexual. Fruits are ovoid
capsules opening by three valves. This plant can be distinguished from others in its genus by its ascending habit,
lanceolate to
elliptic leaves, and lack of
scarious bracts.
Stellaria borealis typically flowers mid-summer.
S. borealis is
monoecious and insect pollinated. Seeds are likely dispersed by gravity, wind and water.
The Pacific Northwest Fungi Database documented 3 rust species on
S. borealis,
Melampsorella caryophyllacearum,
Puccinia arenariae, and
P. stellariae (
Glawe 2016). The
anther smut
Microbotyrum stellariae causes
anthers to appear large and red (
Rabeler 1993).
Stellaria borealis is a circumpolar species. In North America S. borealis is widespread, ranging from Alaska across Canada and south into the western and northern and mid-Atlantic U.S. states. This species is common and widespread in Alaska south of the Brooks Range, occurring widely from the panhandle to the far Aleutians and from the eastern border to the west coast, although it is most common in the southern part of its range in Alaska.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
In Denali, S. borealis is found at elevations from 118 m to 1472 m with an average site elevation of 604 m. It prefers moderately sloped sites with an average slope angle of 7 degrees.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
Moist to wet sites.
