Longstalk Starwort, Long-stalk Starwort
Stellaria longipes ssp. longipes
Synonyms: Stellaria longipes var. altocaulis, Stellaria longipes var. laeta, Stellaria longipes var. longipes
A close-up of the flower of longstalk starwort from wet meadows around Tin Can Springs, Calamity Butte, Malheur National Forest.........July 18,
2010. Note the notched petals (cleft between 1/3-1/2 the length of the petals).
Characteristics:
Longstalk starwort is a perennial wildflower with slender, mostly unbranched
stems spreading or arising 15-40 cm long. The 4-angled stems as well as the
leaves are glabrous and often shiny. The sessile leaves are linear to linear-lanceolate
with acute tips. They are rigid and stiff with smooth margins, although the
margins may be somewhat ciliate near their base. The branches of the inflorescence
are much elongated (up 6-9 cm long) and subtended by short membranous bracts.
The inflorescence consists of a single flower to several flowers in a bracteate
cyme. The sepals are lance-ovate in shape with acute tips (See photo at right.).
They measure 4-6 mm long and are 3-nerved. The white petals range from one-half
as long to over 50% longer than the sepals and are cleft about half their length.
Habitat:
Longstalk starwort may be found in damp meadows, on streambanks, and on moist
rocky slopes from the foothills to alpine meadows in the mountains.
Range:
Also found in Eurasia, longstalk starwort may be found from Alaska south to
California and south through the Rocky Mts. to New Mexico. It is found eastward
to Newfoundland and south to Minnesota and New York.
- 
Additional close-up images of longstalk starwort from wet meadows around Tin Can Springs, Calamity Butte, Malheur National Forest.......July 18,
2010.
- 
Photographed along the North Loop Road, Steens Mountain, Harney County, OR...........September 2, 2011. With a 30x handlens, it may be noticed
that the ventral margins are smooth, a way to identify this species from
Stellaria
longifolia.
Longstalk starwort observed in meadows along the Hanan Trail #142, Fremont-Winema National Forest.......June 17, 2020.
The photo above, although overexposed, shows
the the long, slender growth of longstalk starwort. Photographed along the road
to Big Sky in Hart Mt. National Antelope Refuge, Lake County, OR.........June
25, 2003.
Paul Slichter