Common name: Thread Starwort
Stellaria filiformis (Benth.) Mattf. APNI* 
Description: Annual herb with ascending stems, to 15 cm high, glabrous; leaves crowded in a basal tuft, sometimes with a few small upper leaves.
Leaves filiform, c. 30 mm long, c. 1 mm wide.
Dichasial cymes spreading; pedicels c. 12 mm long; bracts with scarious margins. Sepals 2–3 mm long. Petals less than half as long as the sepals, deeply bifid. Stamens 3–5.
Capsule cylindrical to ± conical, 3–4.5 mm long, almost twice as long as calyx; seeds numerous.
Flowering: September–October
Distribution and occurrence: Disjunct distribution across southern Australia. There are isolated records in the Wyalong district in New South Wales. In Victoria it is confined to the north-west region around Wyperfeld National Park, south to the Grampians area and then westwards across to the south-east of South Australia as well as the Eyre Peninsula. In Western Australia it occurs from the Fraser Range in the east, Lake King, Cowcowing and west across to the Irwin River. Locally common in mallee scrub, eucalypt woodlands and heathlands often in sandy soils and well drained shallow sandy loams, sometimes in the swales between dunes.
NSW subdivisions: NWS, CWS
Other Australian states: Vic. S.A. W.A.
Text by A. Doust (1990); edited KL Wilson (Nov 2012); L. Murray (Sep 2018)
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 1 (1990); Miller, C.H. & West, J.G. (2012) J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 25
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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