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Harmless🍽️ Edible💊 Medicinal

🌱 Chickweed

Stellaria media · Caryophyllaceae

🌳 Temperate Europe🫒 Mediterranean🍁 North America
🧠 To remember it“A single line of hairs that switches sides at every node” — chickweed is the only common small herb with this unique signature.
Chickweed — Stellaria media

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Small mat-forming plant with a fragile stem bearing a single line of fine hairs on only one side, which switches sides at each node—an absolutely key diagnostic feature. Opposite oval leaves, small white star-like flowers with 5 petals so deeply cleft they look like 10.

  1. a single line of hairs on the stem, switching sides at each node
  2. opposite oval leaves, small (1-2 cm)
  3. white flowers with petals so deeply divided they appear double in number
  4. tender, brittle stem, never woody
  5. dense mat on the ground, low-growing
Size5-30 cm (creeping)
Floweringall year round in mild climates (peak March-October)
Habitatgardens, vegetable patches, cool wasteland, rich and moist soils

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis)modérée (toxique, saponines)

To tell them apart: scarlet pimpernel has orange to red flowers (rarely blue) with 5 simple, undivided petals, a square 4-angled stem without chickweed's single line of hairs

🍽️ Eating it

Partsentire aerial parts, young
Seasonyear-round in mild climates, especially March-June
Tastemild, fresh, reminiscent of corn or lamb's lettuce

Preparation : raw in salads (flavor close to sweet corn), lightly steamed like mini-spinach

20kcalEnergy
1.9gProtein
0.3gFat
3.4gCarbs
32mgVitamin C

approx, PFAF/ethnobotanical compilations

💊 Healing with it

traditionally used as a poultice to soothe itching, minor skin rashes, and small irritations

Level of evidence : traditional use — ethnobotanical compilations (PFAF, Fournier)

⚠️ no major known contraindications at food doses; wash thoroughly, often grows low to the ground

🪓 Other bushcraft uses

  • loved by chickens and backyard birds, hence its name
Sources (2)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.