Mountain Chickweed

Cerastium cerastoides is an unusual member of the genus because it normally has only three styles and a straight, six-toothed capsule, rather than a curved capsule as in most of the other species. The blunt sepals help to distinguish this species from C. arvense subsp. strictum, with which it is most likely to be confused. The epithet of this species is often misspelled “cerastioides.”

Plants perennial, mat-forming, rhizomatous. Stems creeping, much-branched, rooting, glabrous except for line of small hairs down each internode; flowering shoots decumbent or ascending, 5-10 cm; nonflowering shoots prostrate, 5-15 cm; small axillary tufts of leaves usually absent. Leaves sessile, tending to be marcescent, somewhat succulent; blade elliptic-oblong or linear-lanceolate, 2-12 × 1-3 mm, apex obtuse, rarely acute, glabrous, sometimes ciliate at base. Inflorescences lax, 1-3-flowered terminal cymes; bracts lanceolate, 2-5 mm, glabrous or ciliate. Pedicels becoming curved, slender, 5-35 mm, equaling or exceeding sepals, glandular-puberulent. Flowers: sepals narrowly lanceolate, 4-5 mm, margins narrow, midrib present, apex obtuse, glandular-pubescent towards base; petals 5-8 mm, 1-1.5 times as long as sepals, apex deeply 2-fid; stamens 10; styles 3(-6). Capsules ovoid-conic, oblong after dehiscence, straight, 7-10 mm, 1.5-2 times as long as sepals; teeth 6(-12), erect to spreading, margins convolute. Seeds brown, 0.5 mm diam., shallowly rugose; testa not inflated. 2n = 38.

Herbs perennial, 10--20 cm tall. Stems caespitose, creeping basally, decumbent or ascending, branched distally, pubescent. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 8--20 × 1.5--2(--3) mm, apex acuminate. Cyme 3--7-flowered, rarely solitary; bracts leaflike, lanceolate. Pedicel 1.5--2 cm, glandular pubescent, recurved in fruit. Sepals broadly lanceolate, 4--6(--7) mm, 1-veined, margin membranous. Petals obovate, 8--12 mm, 2-lobed for ca. 1/4 their length. Stamens 10. Styles 3. Capsule cylindric, 10--12 mm, 6-toothed. Seeds reniform-globose, tuberculate. Fl. May--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

Afghanistan, China, India, ? Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, ? Nepal, Pakistan, Russia (Siberia), N Africa, SW Asia, Europe, North America

Greenland; Nfld. and Labr., Nunavut, Que.; Europe; amphi-Atlantic.

1000 - 2400 m. (3300 - 5100 m in Xizang)

Flowering summer.

Wet, arctic areas, alpine rills, alpine and arctic snowbeds; 0-800m.

Mountain valleys near moist grasslands; 1000--2400 m (3300--5100 m in Xizang). Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [Afghanistan, India, ?Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, ?Nepal, Pakistan, Russia (Siberia); N Africa, SW Asia, Europe, North America].

Stellaria cerastoides Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 422. 1753; Arenaria trigyna (Villars) Shinners; Cerastium lapponicum Crantz; C. trigynum Villars; Dichodon cerastoides (Linnaeus) Reichenbach; Provencheria cerastoides (Linnaeus) B. Boivin

Stellaria cerastoides Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 422. 1753; Cerastium cerastoides var. foliosum Kozhevnikov; Dichodon cerastoides (Linnaeus) Reichenbach.

Cerastium cerastoides, the mountain chickweed or starwort mouse-ear, is a flowering plant species in the pink family Caryophyllaceae found in the mountains of Europe.