Sticky mouse-ear chickweed (Wildflowers of Bouverie Preserve of ACR)

Sticky mouse-ear chickweed

Cerastium glomeratum

Summary ⁴

Cerastium glomeratum is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names sticky mouse-ear chickweed and clammy chickweed. It is probably native to Eurasia but it is known on most continents as an introduced species. It grows in many types of habitat.

Description ⁵

This is an annual herb growing from a slender taproot. It produces a branched, hairy stem up to 40 or 45 centimeters tall. The hairy leaves are up to 2 or 3 centimeters long. The inflorescence bears as few as 3 or as many as 50 small flowers. The flower has five hairy green sepals which are occasionally red-tipped, and five white two-lobed petals which are a few millimeters long and generally shorter than the sepals. Some flowers lack petals. The fruit is a capsule less than a centimeter long which is tipped with ten tiny teeth.

Comments ⁶

The distinctive characteristic of this chickweed is its dense cluster(s) of flowers. In particular, the pedicels of the flowers are the same length or shorter than the sepals (5 mm. or less). Several other species of chickweeds are similar in appearance, but at least some of their pedicels exceed 5 mm. in length (particularly when their flowers have transformed into seed capsules). The sepals of Glomerate Mouse-Eared Chickweed are somewhat unusual because they are covered with long forward-pointing hairs that may extend beyond their margins; other species of chickweed have sepals with shorter hairs. In general, the various species in the Cerastium genus are called "Mouse-Eared Chickweeds" because of the shape and hairiness of their leaves; these species usually have 10 stamens and 5 styles per flower. A scientific synonym of Glomerate Mouse-Eared Chickweed is Cerastium viscosum. Because of this defunct scientific name, this species is sometimes called "Clammy Mouse-Eared Chickweed."

Sources and Credits

(c) Bastiaan, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/84474308@N00/453004679
AnRo0002, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20140331Cerastium_glomeratum5.jpg
(c) James K. Lindsey, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cerastium.glomeratum.-.lindsey.jpg
Adapted by Jeanne Wirka from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerastium_glomeratum
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerastium_glomeratum
(c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29446344

More Info

iNat Map

Color	white
Lifeform	annual herb

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