Chickweeds, Mouse-ears & Allies
Chickweed Family - Caryophyllaceae
Parnassus Rupturewort Herniaria parnassicaNative from southern Albania to Crete. Found in open, grassy places at altitude. A perennial species with obovate leaves and hairs on the leaf margins curving forwards.
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Four-leaved Allseed Polycarpon tetraphyllum
Native to most of Europe, eastwards and southwards to Sri Lanka and East Africa.
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Capitate Nailwort Paronychia capitata
Native throughout the Mediterranean Region.
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Sand Spurrey Spergularia rubra
Native across Eurasia, the Mediterranean Region and North-east Africa.
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Greek Sea-spurrey Spergularia bocconei
Native from Macaronesia and the Mediterranean basin eastward to Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Flowers pink or white, 7-9mm across. Rather similar to Sand Spurrey, but flowers paler and flower bracts relatively small and less leaf-like. All seeds unwinged.
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Annual Pearlwort Sagina apetala
Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to western Asia and India. Flowers petalless, the four green sepals with rather blunt tips, spreading conspicuously and becoming red-tinted in fruit. A tiny, slender, easily-overlooked annual that begins with a basal rosette of leaves which soon withers, leaving the flowers borne on slender, upright, non-rooting stems.
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Procumbent Pearlwort Sagina procumbens
Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to central and North-east Asia.
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Mediterranean Sandwort Sabulina mediterranea
Native throughout the Mediterranean Region. A small and easily overlooked species whose white flowers are often already over even by mid spring.
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Thyme-leaved Sandwort Arenaria serpyllifolia
Native throughout most of Eurasia to South-east Asia and across North and East Africa.
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Common Chickweed Stellaria media
Native throughout the temperate Old World and widely introduced elsewhere. Flowers mostly March to June but some plants can be found in flower throughout the year. An infuriatingly variable species, that can range in appearance from creeping, poorly-leaved specimens that resemble Lesser Chickweed, to vigorous, large-leaved individuals that look very like Greater Chickweed. However, the open flowers with 3-5(-8) stamens (anthers reddish before opening) should distinguish it from similar species.
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reddish anthers |
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Lesser Chickweed Stellaria apetala
(Stellaria pallida ) Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to the Himalayas. Easily confused with weak specimens of Common Chickweed and the two are often hard to tell apart. Lesser Chickweed tends to have a slightly sickly look to it and is often a pale, yellowish colour, becoming straw-coloured as the seeds mature. The flowers usually have no petals, only two stamens and often self-pollinate without opening fully - making a count of the stamens tricky! Stamens 1-2, occasionally 3, with grey-violet anthers.
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violet anthers |
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Sticky Chickweed Stellaria cupaniana
Native throughout the Mediterranean Region from Spain to the Middle East and in Morocco.
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Greek Upright-chickweed Moenchia graeca
Native to the Balkan Peninsula and Aegean Islands.
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Illyrian Mouse-ear Cerastium illyricum
Native to southern Greece. Plant covered in appressed hairs, but with long, loose hairs on the sepals, exceeding the sepal tip. Petals about length of sepals or slightly longer.
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Sticky Mouse-ear Cerastium glomeratum
Native across Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to China.
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