Wildflower with white petals

I saw this plant growing in a sunny floodplain area in a Northern Virginia forest today.

The flowers look like asters to me, but it's too early for those to be blooming.

Help identifying it would be most welcome!

This message was edited Apr 27, 2014 10:10 PM

I think what you have is Star Chickweed, Stellaria media. An attractive plant, I keep a pot of it on my patio.

Thanks, Star Chickweed looks like a great match. I'm so glad it's a native plant.

Right now there are so many Trout Lilies and Spring Beauties in the forest that it's impossible to walk without stepping on them. I also spotted some Sedum ternatum. Of course, there's also plenty of Lesser Celandine.

Sorry to hear about the Lesser Celandine, it will eventually displace all those Trout Lilies and Spring Beauties.

I'm going to try to limit its spread, although Japanese stilt grass and Garlic Mustard are greater priorities. Lesser Celandine is a terrible invasive, though. I had to pull out some in order to find the Culver's Root I planted last year; it was buried under it. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to spread into dry areas very quickly.

Ranunculus ficaria? It's very happy in my neighbors yard, top of a gentle slope. shaded, not particularly moist, poor soil, under moss when dormant. Those tiny tubers go everywhere.

Yes, that's it. The ground in that area stays somewhat moist in the spring, so the Ranunculus ficaria is very dense in some areas. I'm going to try to limit its spread; that's about all I can do. I removed all of it from a small area so that I could sow seeds. At least it doesn't grow very well in dry areas.