Lesser Chickweed

Lesser Chickweed - Stellaria pallida

Description

An insignificant looking plant, it is a little paler than Common Chickweed. It is mainly prostrate and has flowers which may have very tiny white petals, but often has no petals at all. 

Similar Species

Stellaria media and other chickweeds - refer to keys in Stace 4th edition 

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Either obtain confirmation from a County Recorder before submitting a record, or submit detailed images showing key features.  We recommend that you take and retain a specimen; the County Recorder may wish to see this for confirmation. 

Habitat

Grows in open conditions on light, well-drained soils. It occurs on waste and cultivated ground, in gravel- and sand-pits and on tracks in conifer plantations. It is sometimes also found in lawns and on walls. Lowland.

When to see it

A spring flowering species, disappearing without much trace by mid-summer.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Widespread but local in Southern Britain, and mainly coastal further north and in Scotland.

VC55 Status

Near scarce in Leicestershire and Rutland, but is very insignificant and may be overlooked at times.

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but improved recording since then has meant it is found in more sites than previously known, and does not meet the criteria for the current RPR (Hall and Woodward, 2022)

 

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

No additional images available for this species.

All NatureSpot records