Plants of
South Australia
Stellaria angustifolia ssp. angustifolia
Caryophyllaceae
Narrow-leaf Swamp Starwort,
Swamp Starwort
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Distribution by Herbarium region
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta

Prior names

Stellaria angustifolia, partly

Stellaria palustris var. palustris

Common names

Narrow-leaf Swamp Starwort

Swamp Starwort

Etymology

Stellaria from the Latin 'stella' meaning a star and 'aria ' meaning connected with; an allusion to the radiating, deeply bifid petals. Angustifolia from the Latin 'augusta' meaning narrow and 'folium' meaning leaf.

Distribution and status

Found in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island and then South-east in South Australia, growing in wet areas amongst grasslands, herblands, sedgelands, lignum thickets in swamps, along watercourses particularly after flooding or underlying in open woodlands and forest. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Uncommon in South Australia. Rare in Tasmania. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Murray, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Weak trailing perennial herb with 4-angled and glabrous stems. Leaves linear to narrow-lanceolate, to 40 mm long and 1 mm wide, apex obtuse to acute, not rigid, margins entire to toothed. Flowers solitary or in groups of 3 with white flowers on long stalks. Flowering between October and December. Fruits are brown ovoid capsule. Seeds are brown reniform seed to 1.3 mm long and 1.1 mm wide, covered in dense wrinkles or net-like surface. Seed embryo type is peripheral.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between December and February. Collect capsules that are maturing, fat and turning brown and contain hard brown seeds. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for two weeks. Then rub the capsules gently by hand or with a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Seeds should be hard and brown. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From two collections, the seed viability were high, ranging from 80% to 100%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
8,800 (4.8 g)
8,800 (4.8 g)
100+4-Dec-2007TST252
Southern Lofty
19-Sep-2008100%-18°C
BGA1,000 (0.4 g)100+5-Dec-2013DJD2605
South Eastern
27-Feb-201480%-18°C
BGA13,100 (9.778 g)302-Dec-2021BKB23
Kangaroo Island
7-Jul-202285%-18°C, -80°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.