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common chickweed, common mouse-ear chickweed, céraiste commun, mouse-ear chickweed

Habit Plants perennial (rarely annual), tufted to mat-forming, often rhizomatous.
Stems

flowering stems erect from decumbent base, branched proximally, 10–45 cm, softly pubescent, eglandular with straight hairs; nonflowering shoots, when present, produced proximally, decumbent, rooting at nodes, branched, 5–20 cm, often subglabrous with alternating lines of eglandular hairs; small axillary tufts of leaves usually absent.

Leaves

not marcescent;

blade 10–25(–40) × 3–8(–12) mm, densely covered with patent to ascending, colorless, long, eglandular hairs;

leaves of flowering shoots in distant pairs, sessile, blade elliptic to ovate-oblong, apex subacute;

leaves of sterile shoots pseudopetiolate, often spatulate, blade oblanceolate, apex obtuse.

Inflorescences

lax, 3–50-flowered cymes;

bracts lanceolate, reduced, herbaceous, eglandular-pubescent, distal often with narrow, scarious margins.

Pedicels

somewhat curved distally, 2–10(–20) mm, longer than sepals, densely pubescent with patent, eglandular, rarely glandular hairs.

Flowers

sepals ovate-lanceolate, 5–7 mm, margins narrow, apex acute, scarious, pubescent with eglandular, rarely glandular, hairs;

petals oblanceolate, 1–1.5 times as long as sepals, apex deeply 2-fid;

stamens 10, occasionally 5;

styles 5.

Capsules

narrowly cylindric, curved, 9–17 mm, ca. 2 times sepals;

teeth 10, erect, margins convolute.

Seeds

reddish brown, 0.4–1.2 mm, bluntly tuberculate;

testa not inflated, tightly enclosing seed.

2n

= 122–152, usually 144.

Cerastium fontanum

Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Europe [Introduced elsewhere]
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Discussion

Subspecies 4 (2 in the flora).

Cerastium fontanum is a highly variable and complex species. It often has been reported as C. vulgatum Linnaeus, an ambiguous name; see discussion under the genus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Inflorescences never glandular; petals 1.3-1.5 times as long as sepals; capsules 11-17 mm; seeds 0.9-1.2 mm
subsp. fontanum
1. Inflorescences occasionally viscid-glandular; petals equaling sepals; capsules 9-13 mm; seeds 0.4-0.9 mm
subsp. vulgare
Source FNA vol. 5.
Parent taxa Caryophyllaceae > subfam. Alsinoideae > Cerastium
Sibling taxa
C. aleuticum, C. alpinum, C. arcticum, C. arvense, C. axillare, C. beeringianum, C. bialynickii, C. brachypetalum, C. brachypodum, C. cerastoides, C. dichotomum, C. diffusum, C. dubium, C. fastigiatum, C. fischerianum, C. glomeratum, C. maximum, C. nutans, C. pumilum, C. regelii, C. semidecandrum, C. terrae-novae, C. texanum, C. tomentosum, C. velutinum, C. viride
Subordinate taxa
C. fontanum subsp. fontanum, C. fontanum subsp. vulgare
Name authority Baumgarten: Enum. Stirp. Transsilv. 1: 425. (1816)
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