Cerastium arvense
Cerastium alpinum
céraiste des champs, field chickweed, field mouse-ear chickweed, field or prairie mouse-ear chickweed, meadow chickweed, starry cerastium
alpine chickweed, alpine mouse-ear chickweed, céraiste alpin
flowering shoots often decumbent proximally, 5–20(–30) cm, glandular-pubescent distally, pilose-subglabrous, deflexed or spreading proximally;
non-flowering shoots present; small tufts of leaves present in axils of proximal leaves.
prostrate or ascending, tomentose (very rarely subglabrous), hairs white, translucent, long, soft, flexuous, some usually also short and glandular; flowering shoots ascending, 5–20 cm; small axillary tufts of leaves usually absent; nonflowering shoots ± prostrate, to 6 cm.
not marcescent, sessile, ± spatulate proximally;
blade linear-lanceolate to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 4–30 × 0.5–6 mm, apex acute, rarely obtuse, subglabrous to softly pubescent, sometimes glandular.
marcescent or not, sessile;
blade obovate or ovate to elliptic-oblanceolate, elliptic, or lanceolate, usually 10–18 × 5–7 mm, apex obtuse, pubescence as on stems.
lax, 1–20-flowered cymes, pubescence short, glandular;
bracts lanceolate, margins narrow, scarious, glandular-pubescent.
open, (1–)2–4-flowered cymes;
bracts lanceolate, acute, margins narrow, scarious, glandular-pubescent.
curved just below calyx, 5–30 mm, 1–6 times as long as sepals, glandular-pubescent.
straight but often becoming angled at base and curved at apex, slender, 5–30 mm, often elongating to 3 or 4 times as long as sepals, pubescence usually dense, hairs both long, flexuous, multicellular, and short, glandular, viscid.
sepals narrowly lanceolate to lance-elliptic, 3.5–7 mm, margins narrow, softly pubescent;
petals obovate, 7.5–12.5 mm, ca. 2 times as long as sepals, apex 2-fid;
stamens 10;
anthers 0.8–1.1 mm;
styles 5.
sepals green, often violet tipped, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 7.5–10 mm, margins ± narrow, apex acute to obtuse, densely pubescent, hairs both long, eglandular and short, glandular;
petals 1–2 times as long as sepals, apex shallowly 2-fid;
stamens 10;
styles 5.
cylindric, curved, 7.5–11.5 × 2.5–4 mm, (1–)1.5–2 times as long as sepals;
teeth 10, erect, margins convolute.
cylindric, slightly curved, 12–16 mm, to 2 times as long as sepals;
teeth 10, erect, margins convolute.
brown, 0.6–1.2 mm diam., tuberculate;
testa not inflated.
dark brown, 1–1.4 mm diam., acutely tuberculate;
testa not inflated.
= 36, 72, (108, Europe).
= 72, 108.
Cerastium arvense
Cerastium alpinum
Subspecies 2+ (2 in the flora).
The infraspecific taxonomy of Cerastium arvense is subject to many different interpretations. While many subspecies have been recognized, the “actual” number is uncertain because of worldwide distribution, wide range of variation, and conflicting taxonomies.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 3+ (2 in the flora).
The Cerastium alpinum group of species is a difficult complex of intergrading taxa. E. Hultén (1956) considered this complex to be the result of worldwide introgression among the various taxa. Members of this group in North America include C. aleuticum, C. alpinum, C. arcticum, C. beeringianum, C. bialynickii, C. fischerianum, C. regelii, and C. terrae-novae. Cerastium alpinum itself is distinguished from all other members of the complex by its lanate pubescence, which consists of long, silvery, translucent, multicellular, flexuous, often tangled hairs; the more or less square base of the calyx; the convex margins of the sepals; and, in well-grown plants, the long, slender, divaricate pedicels.
In western North America, Cerastium alpinum is replaced by C. beeringianum, which has long, straight, strigose, somewhat fuscous hairs, usually smaller flowers, and smaller seeds. The two species intergrade in eastern Canada; intermediate specimens were named C. alpinum var. strigosum Hultén.
Cerastium arcticum differs from C. alpinum, with which it often grows, in its straight, somewhat fuscous hairs; calyx which is round at the base; long, narrowly lanceolate sepals; large, straight, broad capsules; and broad, obtuse cauline leaves. Like C. alpinum, it usually has large flowers with the petals much longer than the sepals.
Many infraspecific taxa have been named in Cerastium alpinum but in North America it is much less variable than elsewhere. Two forms can be recognized at either the varietal or subspecific level.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Taproot absent, plant strongly rhizomatous with long-creeping shoots; flowering stems usually 25-30 cm, often purple pigmented proximally, pubescence eglandular (glandular hairs present in inflorescence), soft, short or subglabrous; sepals 5-7 mm; anthers 1-1.1 mm; petals usually turning brown when dried | subsp. arvense |
1. Taprooted or shortly rhizomatous, forming clumps; flowering stems usually 5-20 cm, green or straw colored, glandular-pubescent; sepals 3.5-6(-7) mm; anthers 0.8-0.9 mm; petals usually remaining white when dried | subsp. strictum |
1. Leaf blades on flowering shoots narrowly elliptic or lance-elliptic to oblanceolate, apex ± acute, pubescence evenly distributed, not very dense; inflorescences usually (1-)2-4-flowered | subsp. alpinum |
1. Leaf blades on flowering shoots lance-elliptic to ovate or obovate, apex obtuse, pubescence a tuft of longer, silvery, ± tangled hairs at apex; inflorescences usually 1-flowered | subsp. lanatum |
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