Stellaria aquatica ("Ushihakobe")

Japanese name: ウシハコベ （牛繁縷）
Scientific name: Stellaria aquatica

[Overview]
A biennial or perennial about 20–50 cm tall, found in fields and by roadsides.
The stem branches from the lower part and creeps along the ground, while the upper part rises upright.
The upper part of the stem has curly hairs and glandular hairs, and the nodes are tinged with purple.
Leaves are simple and opposite, ovate, 1–8 cm long and 0.8–3 cm wide, with pointed tips and hairless on both surfaces.
The leaves on the lower part of the stem have leaf stalks.
The flowers bloom mainly from spring to early summer, but a few flowers can be seen all year round.
The flowers are borne singly in the upper leaf axils of the stem or in cymes.
The flowers are white and five-petaled, 0.7–1 cm across, but because the petals are deeply divided in two, they look like 10 petals.
There are 10 stamens.
The flower stalks bend downward after flowering.
The fruit is an ovate capsule.
The seeds are elliptic to round, 1 mm across, brown, with conical projections on the surface.

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