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Stellaria apetala; photograph Lisa Rose, CC BY-SA, via GBIF CC BY-SALisa Rose, CC BY-SA, via GBIF

Stellaria apetala Bernardino

Caryophyllaceae · Denmark, Great Britain +55

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Stellaria apetala, photograph Lehmann, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFStellaria apetala, photograph Lehmann, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFStellaria apetala, photograph olivier Sigaud, CC BY-SA, via GBIFStellaria apetala, photograph chrisp, CC BY-SA, via GBIFStellaria apetala, photograph Matthew Sharples, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIFStellaria apetala, photograph Matthew Sharples, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.9°C
Record low -11.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
21°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
763mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
4–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Stellaria apetala (syn. S. pallida), lesser chickweed, is an annual herbaceous plant in the flowering plant family Caryophyllaceae. It occurs in short, sandy grassland by the sea and, less often, in similar habitat inland. It is native to Europe and is well established as an introduced species worldwide.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Stellaria apetala", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Stellaria

Stellaria is a genus of about 190 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution. Common names include starwort, stitchwort and chickweed.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Stellaria", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (542 mm of 754 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 13.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Rain

754 mm in the median year at the habitat, 542 mm of it June to January. Wettest month October at 77 mm, driest month April at 49 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 597 mm to 976 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 763 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 754 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 2, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.9 °C, the absolute minimum -11.1 °C, 2,256 frost nights in 44 years, 51.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.1 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 1.2 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range -1.9 °C to 3.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 20.8 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +123 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Stellaria apetala through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 21 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 1.2 °C; 754 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.1° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-11.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 4–35RH 60–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1293 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / 2–97 / 3–109 / 5–1312 / 9–1516 / 12–1918 / 15–2321 / 18–2621 / 18–2618 / 15–2214 / 11–1810 / 7–127 / 3–10
Night °C2 / -2–41 / -2–43 / 0–55 / 3–79 / 7–1012 / 10–1414 / 12–1714 / 12–1711 / 10–148 / 7–115 / 2–82 / -1–5
Rain mm66 / 47–9150 / 37–7155 / 40–7649 / 34–7358 / 45–7961 / 44–7963 / 41–8565 / 48–9166 / 52–9577 / 55–11373 / 56–10371 / 52–105
DLI5 / 3–1110 / 8–1717 / 16–2628 / 25–3334 / 32–3835 / 33–4135 / 32–4229 / 26–3619 / 18–2812 / 10–186 / 4–124 / 2–9
RH %67 / 62–7065 / 60–6763 / 58–6561 / 58–6360 / 58–6361 / 58–6361 / 57–6361 / 57–6463 / 59–6464 / 62–6667 / 62–6968 / 62–70
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1293 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1515 records in those cells; 47 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1024:3521 (38.775, -3.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -11.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1293 distinct grid cells holding 1515 of the 1563 in-range records (47 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1024:3521 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.00_-3.750, lapse-corrected +123 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 790 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Baleares, Corse, France, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, North European Russia, Ukraine, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, Gulf States, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Pakistan · introduced: Zambia, Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, China Southeast, Japan, Tasmania, Ontario, Colorado, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Mexico Northwest, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Chile Central · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker52.21, 0.15 · in the densest population, 940 records (55% of those in range)
Range sourceKew's entry Stellaria apetala Ucria · the range is that of Kew's entry of these words by another author than the one this page cites
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1723 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1515 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1563 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1112 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 49 km away. 57 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 160 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1723 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Stellaria apetala, photograph 1did not loadStellaria apetala, photograph 2did not loadStellaria apetala, photograph 3did not loadStellaria apetala, photograph 4did not loadStellaria apetala, photograph 5did not loadStellaria apetala, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Lehmann, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); olivier Sigaud, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; chrisp, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Matthew Sharples, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Veronica catenata Veronica catenata Pink water-speedwell Photo: CC BY, Tatyana SovaLeontodon saxatilis Leontodon saxatilis Asteraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Claus AbleiterLemna gibba Lemna gibba Fat duckweed Photo: CC BY, Angelika BaumannCarex distans Carex distans Distant sedge Photo: CC BY, Christoph MoningHordeum secalinum Hordeum secalinum Meadow barley Photo: CC BY-SA, Victor HengRanunculus peltatus Ranunculus peltatus Pond water-crowfoot Photo: CC BY, Demian Hiß

Other Stellaria 16 in the reference

Stellaria alsine Stellaria alsine Bog stitchwort Photo: CC BY, E. BorchertStellaria aquatica Stellaria aquatica Giant chickweed Photo: CC BY, Petr HarantStellaria bungeana Stellaria bungeana Bunge's Chickweed Photo: CC BY, Ксения ВолянскаяStellaria corei Stellaria corei Tennessee chickweed Photo: CC BY, Sandra KellerStellaria cuspidata Stellaria cuspidata Mexican chickweed Photo: CC BY, Sam KieschnickStellaria flaccida Stellaria flaccida Caryophyllaceae Photo: CC BY, ZaraStellaria graminea Stellaria graminea Lesser stitchwort Photo: CC0, author not statedStellaria longifolia Stellaria longifolia Long-leaf starwort Photo: CC BY, Arthur WhitingStellaria longipes Stellaria longipes Long-stalk starwort Photo: CC BY, Ida B D JacobsenStellaria media Stellaria media Common chickweed Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaStellaria neglecta Stellaria neglecta Greater chickweed Photo: CC BY, Andrew BazdyrevStellaria nemorum Stellaria nemorum Wood stitchwort Photo: CC BY, Antoine Thivolle all 17 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Alsine apetala; Alsine glabella; Alsine pallida; Alsinula media subsp. apetala; Alsinula pallida and 39 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFWikipedia

The record

Family
Caryophyllaceae
Described by
Bernardino
Native to
Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland +54
Wild records
1723 in range · 1112 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04the range is Kew's entry Stellaria apetala Ucria; the name is cited Bernardino
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 36 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (19 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 17 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.00_-3.750, lapse-corrected +123 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata not taken: two items answeredasked 2026-10-22not taken: two items answered to the label Stellaria apetala (Q11085761, Q160076)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 152 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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