Stellaria borealisBigelow

boreal starwort

WFO wfo-0001291802 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Stellaria borealis, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. a Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-06-06 / obs. 77289358
Stellaria borealis, photographed by Doug Weihrauch
fig. b Doug Weihrauch, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 24993729
Stellaria borealis, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. c Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 77289411
Stellaria borealis, photographed by Eva Lieungh
fig. d Eva Lieungh, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 47532143
Stellaria borealis, photographed by B. Hughes
fig. e B. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 8993239
Stellaria borealis, photographed by B. Hughes
fig. f B. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 8993236
Stellaria borealis, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. g Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 107394134
Stellaria borealis, photographed by Allan Harris
fig. h Allan Harris, CC0 1.0 / obs. 107394173

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 45 botanical countries

Regions where Stellaria borealis is native: Finland, Iceland, North European Russia, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon FinlandIcelandNorth European RussiaNorwaySwedenAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutGreenlandIdahoLabradorMaineManitobaMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaUtahVermontWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon Rhode I.
Native distribution of Stellaria borealis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Finland FIN EUROPE
Iceland ICE
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Sweden SWE

Not drawn on the map: Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 97 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -26.4 °C -15.8 °C 0.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 9.2 °C 18.5 °C 25.1 °C
Annual rainfall 368 mm 962 mm 2,228 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 47 mm 159 mm 430 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 97 research-grade observations of Stellaria borealis that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 21 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Alsine bongardiana (Fernald) Davidson & Moxley
  • Micropetalon lanceolatum Pers.
  • Spergulastrum lanceolatum Michx.
  • Stellaria borealis subsp. bongardiana (Fernald) Piper & Beattie
  • Stellaria borealis subsp. borealis
  • Stellaria borealis var. bongardiana Fernald
  • Stellaria borealis var. borealis
  • Stellaria borealis var. floribunda Fernald
  • Stellaria borealis var. isophylla Fernald
  • Stellaria borealis var. sitchana Fernald
  • Stellaria brachypetala var. bongardiana (Fernald) Fernald
  • Stellaria calycantha subsp. interior Hultén
  • Stellaria calycantha var. bongardiana (Fernald) Fernald
  • Stellaria calycantha var. floribunda (Fernald) Fernald
  • Stellaria calycantha var. isophylla (Fernald) Fernald
  • Stellaria calycantha var. latifolia B.Boivin
  • Stellaria calycantha var. laurentiana Fernald
  • Stellaria calycantha var. sitchana (Steud.) Fernald
  • Stellaria sitchana Steud.
  • Stellaria sitchana var. bongardiana (Fernald) Hultén
  • Stellularia borealis (Bigelow) Kuntze

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.