Cerastium is a genus of annual, winter annual, or perennial flowering plants belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. They are commonly called mouse-ears or mouse-ear chickweeds. There are 214 accepted species, found nearly worldwide but with the greatest concentration in the northern temperate regions. A number of the species are common weeds in fields and on disturbed ground.
Cephalanthera rubra, known as red helleborine, is an orchid found in Europe, North Africa and southwest Asia. Although reasonably common in parts of its range, this Cephalanthera has always been one of the rarest orchids in Britain.
Lysimachia europaea is a flowering plant in the primrose family Primulaceae, called by the common name chickweed-wintergreen or arctic starflower. It is a small herbaceous perennial plant with one or more whorls of leaves on a single slender erect stem. It is about one third of a foot high (10 cm). The broad lanceolate leaves are pale green but take on a copper hue in late summer. The solitary white flowers are reminiscent of small wood anemones and appear in midsummer. The fruits are globular dry capsules but are seldom produced.
Polemonium caeruleum, known as Jacob's-ladder or Greek valerian, is a hardy perennial flowering plant. The plant produces cup-shaped, blue or white flowers. It is native to temperate regions of Europe. It is the type species of the phlox family, Polemoniaceae.
Stellaria media, chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world, where it is a weed of waste ground, farmland and gardens. It is sometimes grown as a salad crop or for poultry consumption.
Epipactis atrorubens, the dark-red helleborine or royal helleborine, is an herbaceous plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae.
Thomas Edmondston (1825–1846) was a British-born botanist, born in Buness, Unst.
Cerastium glomeratum is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names sticky mouse-ear chickweed and clammy chickweed. It is native to Europe, Macaronesia to Assam but is known on most continents as an introduced species. It grows in many types of habitat. The blooming period is February, March, April, and May.
Cerastium arvense is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names field mouse-ear and field chickweed. It is a widespread species, occurring throughout Europe and North America, as well as parts of South America. It is a variable species. There are several subspecies, but the number and defining characteristics are disputed.
Cyperus fuscus is a species of sedge known by the common name brown galingale, or brown flatsedge. This plant is native to much of Europe, Asia and North Africa from England, Portugal and Morocco east to China and Thailand. It is an introduced species in North America, where it is naturalized in widely scattered locations in the United States and Canada.
Cerastium alpinum, commonly called alpine mouse-ear or alpine chickweed, is a mat-forming perennial plant. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to Greenland, Canada and northern Europe. It is grown as a rock garden subject for its many small white flowers and silver haired stems and foliage. There are three subspecies.
Cerastium fontanum, also called mouse-ear chickweed, common mouse-ear, or starweed, is a species of mat-forming perennial or, rarely, annual plant. It is native to Europe but introduced elsewhere. Its identifying characteristics are tear-shaped leaves growing opposite one another in a star pattern, hairy leaves, and small white flowers. Mouse-ear chickweed typically grows to 4"-8" tall and spreads horizontally along the ground via the formation of roots wherever the stem falls over and contacts the ground.
Dichodon cerastoides, commonly known as the mountain chickweed or starwort mouse-ear, is a species of flowering plant in the pink family Caryophyllaceae. It is found in the mountains of Europe.
Cerastium aleuticum, common name Aleutian mouse-ear chickweed, is a plant species endemic to the US State of Alaska. It is found only on islands, not on the Alaskan mainland: Aleutian, St. Lawrence, St. Paul, Popof, and Kodiak Islands. It is found on rocky slopes and mountainsides up to an elevation of 700 m.
Cerastium pumilum, the dwarf mouse-ear or European chickweed, is an annual or biannual herbaceous plant, between 2 and 20 cm. high, native to Central and western Europe. The petals of the white flowers are shorter or equally long as the sepals, and split in the middle, up to a quarter of the length. The fruit petioles stand diagonal to the stems, often bent over at their top. Flowering occurs between March and May. Rarely occurs on the seacoast.
Cerastium diffusum, the fourstamen chickweed or sea mouse-ear, is a species of flowering plant in the pink and carnation family Caryophyllaceae. It is an annual herb, to 30 cm.high, occurring in western Europe and northern Africa. Found mainly in coastal areas of Algeria, the Baleares, Belgium, Corsica, Denmark, France, the Faroe Islands, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain and Sweden. The flowers have 4, petals, 4 or 5 stamens appearing between March and May. The petals are much shorter than the sepals. The leaves are opposite, (sessile) without petioles and the sepals and bracts are all green, without pale margins. The fruit petioles are erect and diffuse at maturity.
Cerastium holosteoides, the common mouse-ear chickweed, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae.
Cerastium subtriflorum, the Slovenian mouse-ear chickweed, is a perennial plant species in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is mostly restricted to the Slovenian and Italian Alps.
Milne-Redhead E. "Cerastium brachypetalum Pers in Britain" The Naturalist July Sept 1947: 95–96
Horn Peter C. "Cerastium brachypetalum in decline in Bedfordshire" BSBI News 65 18:20 (1994)
Horn Peter C. "The Decline and Conservation of Cerastium brachypetalum in Bedfordshire" The Bedfordshire Naturalist 48: 102 (1994)
Palmer J.R. "Cerastium brachypetalum - Status in West Kent" BSBI News 65: 21-22 (1994)
Horn Peter C. "Cerastium brachypetalum in a Bedfordshire Railway Cutting" BSBI News 101 25-26 (2006)
