Cerastium arvense (Field Chickweed) - photos and description

 

 

 


Shoots growing from leaf axils

General: Low plant with a tufted growth habit, having stems prostrate to decumbent. Stems and leaves glandular hairy.

Flowers: White flowers, with 5 petals, and 10 stamens, petals are cleft. Flower measured to 18 mm diameter.

Leaves: Leaves are opposite, oblanceolate, sessile, a lower stem leaf was measured at 1 cm long and 4 mm wide. Leaf upper and lower surface pubescent with short hairs. Axillary shoots are present in leaf axils.

Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 30 cm, we measured plants to 22 cm tall.

Habitat: Open prairie.

Abundance: Common.

Origin: Native.

When and where photographed: We took the above photos on May 31st on a prairie roadside, and June 6th, prairie, in the Cypress Hills, about 450 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.