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Common Name: Chickweed

General Information

Stellaria media is an annual plant that can grow up to 0.12 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

Known Hazards

The leaves contain saponins[, ].
Although poisonous, saponins also have a range of medicinal applications and many saponin-rich plants are used in herbalism (particularly as emetics, expectorants and febrifuges) or as sources of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Saponins are also found in a number of common foods, such as many beans.
Saponins have a quite bitter flavour and are in general poorly absorbed by the human body, so most pass through without harm. They can be removed by carefully leaching in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of raw foods that contain saponins.
Saponins are much more toxic to many cold-blooded creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish and make them easy to catch[].

Botanical References

Range

A cosmopolitan plant, found in most regions of the world, including Britain.

Habitat

Growing almost anywhere, it is a common garden weed[, ].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Annual
Height	0.12 m
Pollinators	Bees, Flies, Self
Self-fertile	Yes
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A very easily grown plant, it prefers a moist soil and a position in full sun or partial shade[, ]. It can be very lush and vigorous when grown in a fertile soil[], but in infertile soils it will flower and set seed whilst still very small.
A very common garden weed, chickweed grows, flowers and sets seed all year round. The flowers open around 9 o'clock in the morning and remain open for about 12 hours[]. They do not open in dull weather[]. The leaves fold up of a night time, enfolding and protecting the tender buds of new shoots[].
A food plant for the caterpillars of many butterfly species.

Edible Uses

Young leaves - raw or cooked as a potherb[, , , , , , ]. They can be available all year round if the winter is not too severe[]. Very nutritious, they can be added to salads whilst the cooked leaves can scarcely be distinguished from spring spinach[, ]. The leaves contain saponins so some caution is advised, see the note on toxicity at the top of the page. A nutritional analysis is available[].
Seed - ground into a powder and used in making bread or to thicken soups[, ]. It would be very fiddly to harvest any quantity of this seed since it is produced in small quantities throughout most of the year and is very small[]. The seed contains 17.8% protein and 5.9% fat[].

Medicinal

Chickweed has a very long history of herbal use, being particularly beneficial in the external treatment of any kind of itching skin condition[]. It has been known to soothe severe itchiness even where all other remedies have failed[]. In excess doses chickweed can cause diarrhoea and vomiting[]. It should not be used medicinally by pregnant women[].
The whole plant is astringent, carminative, demulcent, diuretic, expectorant, laxative, refrigerant, vulnerary[, , , , , , ]. Taken internally it is useful in the treatment of chest complaints and in small quantities it also aids digestion[]. It can be applied as a poultice and will relieve any kind of roseola and is effective wherever there are fragile superficial veins[]. An infusion of the fresh or dried herb can be added to the bath water and its emollient property will help to reduce inflammation - in rheumatic joints for example - and encourage tissue repair[]. Chickweed is best harvested between May and July, it can be used fresh or be dried and stored for later use[, ].
A decoction of the whole plant is taken internally as a post-partum depurative, emmenagogue, galactogogue and circulatory tonic[]. It is also believed to relieve constipation and be beneficial in the treatment of kidney complaints[]. The decoction is also used externally to treat rheumatic pains, wounds and ulcers[, , ].
The expressed juice of the plant has been used as an eyewash[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - this species should not need any encouragement, you are much more likely to be trying to get rid of it than trying to introduce it (eating it is one way of doing that!)[].