Stellaria Graminea, Lesser Starwort

Day 313: Somewhere in the world, every weed is a wildflower. It is only when they escape their habitats and the predators which normally keep them in check that they come to be regarded as pests, or when the predators die off and the plants are free to grow rampantly.

Weeds can be divided roughly into two vague categories: invasive and non-invasive. Invasives are the enemy. In the absence of predators or diseases which would otherwise limit their spread, they are capable of establishing monocultures where little else grows (examples in the Pacific Northwest would include Scotch Broom, the Knotweeds, Himalayan Blackberry). We fight a never-ending war with invasives, but they are not the subject of this essay.

Stellaria graminea (aka Lesser Starwort, Grassleaf Starwort) is a member of the Chickweed family. It is a small plant, rather leggy and wiry, and tangles itself among grasses to go unnoticed until its tiny white flowers appear. It will not take over your lawn or pasture, nor will it poison your livestock or your children. The only bad thing you can say about it is that it may entice pollinators to its blossoms when they should be visiting native species instead, but it does not seem to do so to the extent that natives go unpollinated. Its five deeply divided petals (yes, five!) bring a small moment of beauty to the eye where it is found; non-native, non-invasive, a weed by definition, but a lovely one.