About Stellaria borealis Bigelow
Stellaria borealis Bigelow is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, commonly known as boreal starwort. It has a circumboreal distribution, found across northern regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It grows in many types of moist and wet habitats, including marshes, riverbanks, lakesides, floodplains, talus, ditches, and moist areas in forests and woodlands. This species is quite variable in appearance, particularly across its different subspecies. In general, it is a rhizomatous perennial herb that forms mats of branching, four-angled stems. The stems are lined with lance-shaped leaves that are a few centimeters long. The inflorescence holds many flowers; each flower has five deeply lobed white petals. Some flowers do not have petals, and only have five pointed green sepals. This plant is sometimes infected by the smut fungus Microbotryum violaceum (also called Microbotyrum stellariae), which causes the plant's anthers to turn red.
