Starwort, or STITCHWORT (Stellaria), a genus of plants of the natural order Caryophyllæ, having a calyx of five leaves, five deeply-cloven petals, ten stamens, three styles, and a many-seeded capsule opening with six teeth. The species are numerous, and several are very common in Britain, annual and perennial plants, with weak stems and white flowers, which in some are minute and in others are large enough to be very ornamental to woods and hedge-banks, as in the Wood Starwort (S. nemorum) and the Greater Starwort (S. Holostea). To this genus the common Chickweed (q.v.) is now generally referred.