Greater stitchwort
Rabelera holostea
Family · Caryophyllaceae · Harmless
The white stars that light up wood edges and shady banks in April, their petals split to the middle giving the impression of ten instead of five.
Oak woods · Roadsides and waste ground · Uplands · Streams and ditches
Also known asaddersmeat, greater starwort
How to tell it
A weak four-angled stem, rough when you run a finger down it, leaning on whatever it finds. Opposite, narrow, long, pointed leaves without stalks, blue-green and rough at the margin. White flowers two to three centimetres, with five petals split to about halfway, which is the mark.
What it is confused with
Chickweed
Stellaria media
Chickweed is small and prostrate, a garden plant, with flowers a few millimetres across and a line of hairs running down one side of the stem only; greater stitchwort is large, of woodland, with flowers two to three centimetres. Neither is dangerous.
Open sheet →What it is for
No use. The folk name comes from a belief that it cured a stitch in the side when running, which it does not. It is a cousin of chickweed, and shows the difference well: petals split to halfway here, almost to the base in chickweed.