Forked Chickweed

Description

Siberian Chickweed is a perennial herb with erect,hairless,weak stems,up to 1 m long.Stems are channeled or sparsely hairy below,scarcely branching.Leaves are 2.5-7 cm long,0.7-3.2 cm wide,ovate to ovate-lanceshaped,hairless,tip somewhat pointed,and base stem-clasping.Bracts are similar to leaves but smaller.Flowers are borne in a lax cyme.Flower-stalks are much longer than the sepals,slender.Sepals 8-10 mm,lanceshaped-elliptic,membranous,sometimes with thin hyaline margins.Petals are white,1.2-1.3 cm,bind,claw hairy.Styles 5.Capsule twice as long as the sepal cup,membranous,teeth 10,revolute at tip.Seeds are about 1.5 mm,covered with tubercles.Siberian Chickweed is found in N.Europe,Turkey,Iran,Caucasus,Siberia,Pakistan and Kashmir,at altitudes of 1000-2400 m.Flowering: July.