Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Gray Chickweed - Cerastium brachypetalum   Persoon
Members of Caryophyllaceae:
Members of Cerastium with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Caryophyllales » Family Caryophyllaceae
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AuthorPersoon
DistributionPiedmont and Mountains only.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. NY to IL and KS, south to FL and TX; also ID, OR.
AbundanceUncommon to fairly common. However, it probably is overlooked or passed over as being a similar species -- mainly C. glomeratum.
HabitatRoadsides, railroad margins, fields, disturbed ground.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting April-June.
IdentificationGray Chickweed is an annual, simple or with multiple stems from the base, shaggy with silvery hairs. The basal leaves are small and oblanceolate or spatulate, the stem leaves much smaller, sessile, bluntly elliptic. The flowers occur in open cymes, the petals 2-3 mm long and shorter than the sepals (4-5 mm long). The sepals have long, appressed, non-glandular hairs, contra several other alien and native Cerastium species. C. glomeratum also has such hairs, but its inflorescence is compact (vs. open).
Taxonomic CommentsFNA says the author is Persoon; Weakley (2018) says Desportes.

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State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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