Holosteum umbellatum, the jagged chickweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Europe but has also been introduced to North America.
Annual with a thin root, light green or bluish, in the upper part more or less pubescent with glandular hairs.
Stems 5-20 cm tall, erect, simple or branching from the base with a rosette of basal leaves.
Leaves 1-4 cm long, 0.2-0.6 cm wide, lanceolate, broadly or oblong, acute or obtuse at the apex; the lower ones are drawn into a short petiole, the upper ones are sessile.
The inflorescence is umbellate. Flowers are bisexual, up to 10-12 pcs.,. Bracts 0.8-1 mm long, triangular-ovate, obtuse, herbaceous, with a white-filmy border, glabrous. Pedicels are unequal, 5-30 mm long, slightly thickened at the base, glabrous, higher glandular pubescent. Sepals, 5 in number, 3-5 mm long, lanceolate, acute or obtuse at the apex, herbaceous along the dorsum, with one more or less strongly prominent vein, not reaching the apex, with a white-fringed border, glabrous or glandular pubescent at the base. Petals, 5 in number, pinkish or white, oblong or obverse-lanceolate, two-three-toothed at the apex, equal to or slightly larger than sepals.
The fruit is a capsule, sticking upward on the pedicel, oblong, one and a half times the calyx, opening out with six curling teeth outward. Seeds 0.9-1 mm in diameter, compressed from the sides, keeled from below, furrowed along the back, finely tuberous, brown.
This plant is useful.
How to get rid of:
Mulch the aisles. A great option is to spread the mowed grass left, for example, from the lawn, between the cultivated plants. But it must be laid in a thick layer of at least 5 cm - weeds cannot germinate through such mulch.
