Chickweed(Stellaria media)
The most famous of the chickweed cousins is common chickweed, Stellaria media, one of my favorite herbs. I harvest it throughout the cool-weather, snow-free months (March-May and Oct-Dec). Once the weather warms, I switch to using giant chickweed in my salads and for my remedies. To learn lots more about why I adore chickweed, check out Healing Wise.

Mouse-eared chickweed (Cerastium vulgatum)
This one is too hairy to eat and is rarely used for medicine. It is quite common in lawns and fields, and, like all its cousins, it produces masses of twinkling starry flowers for several weeks, then dies off and turns brown when hot nights arrive.

Giant chickweed (Stellaria pubera)
This extra large version of chickweed makes great eating. The stalks unfortunately get tough fast; so I pinch the tips often to keep them tender. Giant chickweed also makes good medicine. Both the tinctures and the oils we have made of it seem as effective as those made from her common cousin S. media. She withstands more heat than most of her cousins, and is available to me well into the summer.

Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea)
This chickweed cousin is potentially usable, but so difficult to pick that I doubt that anyone has tried it. It prefers to grow mixed in with various grasses, including edible grains. (Thus its species name, graminea, like grain.) The flowers seem to float among the grasses and, if you close your eyes and listen with joy in your heart, you will hear the fairy bells ringing.