Cerastium
Appearance
Cerastium | |
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Cerastium arvense | |
Scientific classification | |
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Genus: | Cerastium |
Species | |
About 100 - see text |
Cerastium is a genus of annual, winter annual, or perennial plants belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. They are commonly called mouse-ear chickweed. Species are found nearly worldwide but the greatest concentration is in the northern temperate regions. There are about 100 species.[1] A number are common weeds in fields and on disturbed ground.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Cerastium_uniflorum.jpg/220px-Cerastium_uniflorum.jpg)
Cerastium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora chalcogrammella (which feeds exclusively on Cerastium arvense) and Coleophora striatipennella (which has been recorded on Cerastium fontanum).
Selected species
- Cerastium aleuticum - Aleutian chickweed
- Cerastium alpinum - alpine chickweed
- Cerastium arcticum - arctic mouse-ear chickweed
- Cerastium arvense - field chickweed
- Cerastium axillare - Trans-Pecos chickweed
- Cerastium beeringinanum - Bering chickweed
- Cerastium bialynickii
- Cerastium biebersteinii - boreal chickweed
- Cerastium brachypetalum - gray chickweed
- Cerastium brachypodum - shortstalk chickweed
- Cerastium cerastoides - mountain chickweed
- Cerastium dichotomum - forked chickweed
- Cerastium diffusum - fourstamen chickweed
- Cerastium dubium - doubtful chickweed
- Cerastium fischerianum - Fischer's chickweed
- Cerastium fontanum - common mouse-ear chickweed
- Cerastium glomeratum - sticky chickweed
- Cerastium gorodkovianum - tundra chickweed
- Cerastium gracile - slender chickweed
- Cerastium maximum - great chickweed
- Cerastium nigrescens - Shetland mouse-ear chickweed
- Cerastium nutans - nodding chickweed
- Cerastium pumilum - European chickweed
- Cerastium regelii - Regel's chickweed
- Cerastium semidecandrum - five-stamen chickweed
- Cerastium sordidum - Chihuahuan chickweed
- Cerastium terrae-novae - Newfoundland mouse-ear chickweed
- Cerastium texanum - Texas chickweed
- Cerastium tomentosum - snow in summer
- Cerastium utriense
References
- ^ Cerastium. Flora of North America.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cerastium.