White star flowers with each of the five petals cleft halfway, on brittle stems through hedge banks in spring, with narrow grass-like leaves
Greater stitchwort.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Greater stitchwort
Native · flowers Apr–Jun · hedge banks, verges and deciduous woodland
Rabelera holostea (formerly Stellaria holostea) — Caryophyllaceae
Greater stitchwort scrambles through hedge banks and woodland edges in spring, its brittle stems carrying white star-shaped flowers whose petals are split halfway. Its capsules pop audibly when ripe. It is a familiar companion of bluebells and red campion on lanes in April to June.
How to spot them
- ▸White flowers 2–3 cm across with five petals, each cleft about halfway, so the flower appears to have ten
- ▸Long, narrow, stalkless, grass-like leaves in opposite pairs on brittle stems up to 50 cm
- ▸Grows in loose masses through hedgerow bases, road verges and woodland margins
- ▸Look-alike: lesser stitchwort (Stellaria graminea) has flowers only 0.5–1 cm across
- ▸Seed capsules split and pop loudly when ripe in late spring
How to know it
Ripe capsules of this spring flower fire their seeds with an audible pop, earning it the names popguns and poppers
Greater stitchwort.
Its name comes from an old herbal cure for the stitch, the pain felt in the side during exercise
Greater stitchwort — wort = plant.
In Cornwall this white hedge-bank flower was thought to belong to the pixies, and picking it was said to bring their anger
Greater stitchwort.
Some say picking this white flower brings a thunderstorm, and it is known as snapdragon because its stem snaps so easily
Greater stitchwort.
A smaller relative has flowers only half to one centimetre across, against two to three centimetres here
Greater stitchwort versus lesser stitchwort, Stellaria graminea.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Caryophyllaceae, the carnation family; recently moved from Stellaria to Rabelera
- •Flowering season April to June, according to the Woodland Trust; up to 50 cm tall
- •Petals are split halfway so each flower looks as though it has ten petals
- •Explosive seed dispersal: ripe capsules pop, giving the names popguns and poppers
- •Nectar plant for bees and butterflies such as the orange-tip; food plant of several moths
- •Old names include adder's meat, star of Bethlehem, daddy's shirt buttons, milkmaids and wedding cakes
- •Once used as a remedy for a stitch — hence stitchwort — and worn as a poor man's buttonhole
- •Folklore links picking it to thunderstorms and, in Cornwall, to angering pixies
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Greater stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)