Cerastium glomeratum Thuill.
annual mouse-ear chickweed
Annual, with all branches reproductive. Stems erect or ascending, (5)-10- 30-(50) cm tall, with spreading eglandular and shorter glandular hairs. Lvs elliptic to broadly obovate-spathulate, (5)-10-25-(30) × (2)-5-10-(15) mm, the lower narrowed gradually to base; hairs eglandular. Infl. compact; peduncles elongating at fruiting but pedicels always = or < calyx; peduncles and pedicels densely hairy with long eglandular and shorter glandular hairs. Bracts elliptic to obovate, always herbaceous, with dense glandular and eglandular hairs. Sepals (3.5)-4-5-(6) mm long, with narrow scarious margins, and glandular and long eglandular hairs overtopping apex. Petals slightly > or = sepals. Styles 0.5-0.8 mm long. Capsule cylindric, 2× length of calyx. Seeds 0.3-0.5 mm long, tuberculate.
N.; S.; St.; K., Ch., A.: throughout.
N. temperate 1846
Grassland, roadsides, waste land, pastures, ballast.
Annual mouse-ear chickweed can be distinguished from the other small-flowered Cerastium spp. by all the bracts, even the uppermost, having green margins, pedicels = or < calyx and sepal hairs overtopping the sepal apex. The sp. has also been referred to in N.Z. as C. viscosum.
