''Cerastium fontanum'', also called mouse-ear chickweed, common mouse-ear, or starweed, is a species of mat-forming

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

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 Hairy may refer to: * people or animals covered in hairs or fur * plants covered in trichomes * insects covered in setae * people nicknamed "the Hairy" * Hairy (gene) See also * Hairies, a fictional people * Haerye ''Hunminjeongeum Haerye'' ...

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.

Description

''Cerastium fontanum'' is a low growing plant covered with small hairs which are not sticky, that is, without glandular tips. The erect flowering stems up to long and leaves, opposite, up to long without stalks. It has prostrate branches which do not bear flowers. The petals are shorter than the sepals or a little longer and are deeply divided. The flowers have 10 stamens with 5 styles.Calpham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. ''Excursion Flora of the British Isles''. Cambridge University Press.

Habitat

It is common in grassland and along roadsides.

Distribution

It is common throughout

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.Scannell and Synnott, D. 1972. ''Census Catalogue of the Flora of Ireland.'' Dublin

Etymology

''Cerastium'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word for 'horned', in reference to the shape of its fruit capsule.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 99, 169 ''Fontanum'' means 'of fountains', 'of springs', or 'of fast-running streams'. It is a cognate with 'fountain' and 'font'.

References

fontanum Invasive plant species of subantarctic islands {{Caryophyllaceae-stub