Common Chickweed (Stellaria media) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Common chickweed is one of the most familiar lawn and garden weeds in the United States, a soft, sprawling plant with tiny white flowers whose five deeply split petals look like ten. Native to Europe and Asia, it now grows throughout the United States in lawns, gardens, fields, and roadsides.

Appearance

Growth form: Weak, much-branched stems sprawl and form mats, rooting at the lower nodes. A single line of fine hairs runs along the stem.
Leaves: Opposite, broadly oval leaves with pointed tips, up to about 1 in (25 mm) long and mostly hairless.
Flowers: Tiny white flowers about 1/4 in (6 mm) across. Each of the five petals is split nearly to the base, and the green are longer than the petals. There are usually 3–5 stamens (sometimes up to 8) and 3 .
Flowering time: In California it blooms mostly February to September, and year-round where conditions allow; in Minnesota it blooms June to September.
Fruit: Small egg-shaped capsules hold many tiny, pale tan to reddish-brown seeds about 1/25 in (1 mm) across, covered with small bumps.

Look-alikes

mouse-ear chickweedCerastium fontanum

Mouse-ear chickweed is hairy all over, with fuzzy leaves. Common chickweed has mostly hairless leaves and only one line of hairs on the stem.

Why they get mixed upBoth are low lawn weeds with small white flowers with notched petals.

sticky chickweedCerastium glomeratum

Sticky chickweed's leaves are moderately to densely hairy; common chickweed's leaves are mostly smooth.

Why they get mixed upIt grows in the same lawns and gardens and looks very similar in growth habit.

giant chickweedStellaria aquatica

Giant chickweed has 5 styles in the center of the flower (common chickweed has 3), and its sepals are about as long as its petals instead of clearly longer.

Why they get mixed upIt is a close relative with the same deeply split white petals.

lesser chickweedStellaria apetala

Lesser chickweed is smaller and yellowish green, and most of its flowers have no petals at all, with only 1–3 stamens. Telling the two apart with certainty can be very hard.

Why they get mixed upIt was once treated as a subspecies of common chickweed and grows in the same weedy places.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: lawns
gardens
farm fields
roadsides
disturbed ground
Range: Native to Eurasia and naturalized nearly worldwide, and found throughout the United States. In California it grows almost everywhere except the Mojave Desert, up to about 4,300 ft (1,300 m).
Preferred conditions: Common in lawns, gardens, meadows, and other disturbed ground. In California it also turns up in crop fields, orchards, vineyards, and grasslands.
Flowering: Flowers Feb–Sep
Flowers Feb–Sep

Life cycle

Reproduction: In California it usually grows as a , though in foggy coastal areas it can live year-round. It spreads mainly by seed, and also by creeping stems that root where they touch the ground.