Tuber starwort, known also as starweed and mountain chickweed, 

 is a sticky-hairy herb, perennial from thickened, starchy, often 

 jointed rootstocks. It ranges, chiefly in moist sites, from the wood- 

 land and ponderosa pine to the aspen and spruce belts, from Wyo- 

 ming to Washington, California, and western Texas. In the Rocky 

 Mountains and Intermountain Region it occurs from about 4,500 to 

 10,000 feet above sea level, but in the Northwest it is found at 1,500 

 feet. Although occurring in a great variety of soils, it is more likely 

 to grow on sandy or gravelly loams than in clayey soils. It is corn- 

 mon among shrubs and in the aspen type. 



Tuber starwort rates mention largely because of its wide distribu- 

 tion, commonness, and conspicuousness when in. flower. The flowers 

 are cropped by grazing animals, and the herbage is fair in palata- 

 bility, or occasionally fairly good for sheep, and poor to fair for 

 cattle. This variation depends chiefly on freshness of foliage and 

 presence in quantity of more palatable associates. Sometimes tuber 

 starwort is rather heavily grazed by sheep and cattle, but such ex- 

 treme use is associated with overgrazing and other abnormal condi- 

 tions. The amount of forage produced per plant is small despite 

 that this is one of the largest plants in the genus. The tuberous 

 rootstocks are edible and, when fresh and fleshy, are quite palatable ; 

 they were an important source of food among the Indians. These 

 rootstocks enable the species to propagate vegetatively, as well as; 

 from seed. 



STARWORTS AND CHICKWEEDS 



(Alsi'ne spp., syn. Stella' ria spp.) 



The starworts and chickweeds compose a genus of annual or 

 perennial herbs with opposite leaves, white flowers, and often weak 

 and spreading stems. Common chickweed (A. media, syn. SteUaria 

 media], one of the best-known weeds in gardens and other cultivated 

 ground, occasionally occurs on the range but is rather rare. Star- 

 worts and chickweeds are common and are found on a wide variety 

 of sites; however, the majority of the species occur in moist or wet 

 places, and for the most part are small, sparse in stand, and rela- 

 tively unimportant as range plants. In palatability they are gener- 

 ally considered fair cattle forage and fairly good sheep forage. 



The flowers in this genus consist of usually 5 (sometimes 4) sep- 

 arate sepals, 4 or 5 white, notched petals (lacking in some species), 

 10 or fewer stamens, and a single pistil with usually 3 styles. The 

 capsules, or fruits, open nearly to the base by twice as many valves 

 as there are styles. The stamens and petals are inserted around the 

 margin of a disk under the stalkless (sessile) ovary. 



