Japanese name: コハコベ（小繁縷） Scientific name:Stellaria media
[Overview]
A biennial about 10–20 cm tall, found in fields and along roadsides.
The stems and leaves are soft, and the stem branches from the base and spreads.
The stem has short soft hairs on one side.
Leaves are simple and opposite, broadly ovate to long ovate, 1–2 cm long and 0.8–1.5 cm wide, with a pointed tip and no hairs on either surface.
The leaves on the lower part of the stem have petioles.
Cymes are borne at the stem tips and in the leaf axils.
The flowers are small, white and 5-petaled, but because the petals are deeply split in two, they look as if they have 10 petals.
There are 1–7 stamens.
The fruit is an oblong capsule.
The seeds are reniform-round, 1–1.2 mm across and black, with wart-like hemispherical projections on the surface.
[Uses]
As one of the Seven Herbs of Spring, the young leaves are eaten.
The stems and leaves are used as a folk remedy.
They are also used as food for small birds, rabbits and the like.
