Common Chickweed

Caryophyllaceae

LIFE FORM: Winter annual

NATIVITY: Europe

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

A prostrate, mat-forming plant with densely branched stems; leaves are bright green, opposite, broadly elliptic to egg-shaped, and an inch or less long; the root system is shallow and weak.

FLOWERS:

Flowering occurs year round (except in winter); flowers are about a quarter inch in diameter with five white petals that are deeply notched to give the appearance of 10 petals.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

Small seeds self-sow readily; they germinate in cool weather.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Thrives in moist, shady, nutrient-rich sites, but is not limited to such areas. Prefers minimally maintained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites; woodlands that develop on abandoned open space; freshwater wetlands, ponds and streams.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Disturbance-adapted colonizer.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Young leaves and stems are edible; it also has been used in European folk medicine. Listed by John Josselyn in New-England’s Rarities, published in 1672, under the category: “Of such plants as have sprung up since the English planted and kept cattle in New England.”