Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
14. Caryophyllaceae, the Pink Family
1. Cerastium L.--Mouse-ear chickweed2. Cerastium nutans Raf.
Quite similar to the preceding but attaining larger stature and usually more openly branched above, 1-5 dm tall. Leaves 8-60 mm long, 4-12 mm wide. Flowers in rather open and often widely branched cymes; sepals 2.5-5 mm long; petals as in C. brachypodum. Capsules 7-12 mm long; pedicels 1-3X the length of the calyx in flower, to 5X the calyx length and sharply curved below the calyx in age. Seeds as in the preceding, but 0.4-0.7 mm long. Late May--Aug. Shores, stream banks, springs, boggy places and wet woods; occasional in the n and e parts, scattered w; (Range similar to C. brachypodum).
Previous Species -- Cerastium brachypodum (Engelm. ex A. Gray) Robins.
Return to Family -- Caryophyllaceae - The Pink Family
Next Species -- Spergularia marina (L.) Griseb.-- Salt-marsh sand-spurry
