Cerastium arvense L.
field chickweed
Rhizomatous perennial, with caespitose rosettes of short non-flowering axillary branches. Flowering stems decumbent, (5)-10-30-(45) cm tall, with reflexed, eglandular hairs. Lvs narrowly oblanceolate to lanceolate, to linear- lanceolate, ± sessile, (5)-10-20-(30) × 2-5 mm, with eglandular hairs. Infl. lax; pedicels > sepals, with dense glandular and eglandular hairs. Bracts ovate, with scarious margins and short glandular and long eglandular hairs beneath. Sepals with scarious margin, hairy as for bracts but glabrous at apex, 5-7 mm long. Petals almost twice as long as sepals. Styles 2.5-3 mm long. Capsule cylindric, c. 11/2× length of calyx. Seeds c. 1 mm long, tuberculate.
S.: Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, Southland.
Europe 1878
Pasture, roadside, scrub, hedgerows, short tussock grassland.
FL Oct-Nov-(Feb) FT Nov-Jan-(Mar).
Field chickweed can be distinguished from snow-in-summer by its lvs not being silvery tomentose, and from the other Cerastium spp. in N.Z. by its larger fls and longer styles. The plants have slender rhizomes.
