Northern Starflower

Lysimachia borealis

Pollinator Value

🐝 Specialist Bee Host: Macropis ciliata, Macropis nuda, Macropis patellata
S17 Lysimachia genus-level oil-collecting specialists; M. nuda and M. patellata range into NE states adjacent to ON/QC

Proximity Score: 0
Native Status: ✅ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ✅ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: Local
CEC Eco-Regions: 5 – Northern Forests, 5.2 – Mixed Wood Shield, 5.2.3 – Algonquin/Southern Laurentians
Rarity Notes: Globally secure (G5) and nationally secure in both Canada (N5) and the United States (N5). Ranked S5 in both Ontario and Quebec. Not listed under SARA or COSEWIC. A common and widespread species of northern and boreal forests with no conservation concerns.
S22 S26
Rarity Ranks: QC S5 – Secure, ON S5 – Secure
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: Northern starflower is a characteristic understory herb of boreal and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests across northeastern North America. It thrives in cool, acidic, moist forest floors, often in association with sugar maple, hemlock, and birch stands. In the Outaouais, herbarium specimens document it in sugar maple forests with basswood and red maple (Masson-Angers), hemlock stands (Lac Hickey), and mixed forests on sandy soils. Its rhizomatous growth forms loose colonies on undisturbed forest floors.
S48 S54 S4

Roles: Fortress/Barrier
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: thorns? (supporting signal only)]

❌ Not Edible

Foraging Notes: No documented edible uses. PFAF lists no edibility information, and Moerman's Native American Ethnobotany Database has no food use records for this species.
S29 S28