Cerastium vulgare
Mouse Ear Chickweed at Greenway, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Cerastium vulgare | MichaelMulvaney | 25 Sep 2015 | |
| Cerastium vulgare | MichaelBedingfield | 20 Sep 2015 | |
| Unverified | MichaelBedingfield | 19 Sep 2015 |
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User's notes
This is a weed. It is a common small and furry annual, and is abundant at the moment.
4 comments
20 Sep 2015
Hi Michael, I suspect you might have a Cerastium sp. If so, then the PlantNET key takes you to Cerastium glomeratum. The ANBG ACT plant census also includes the name Cerastium diffusum for which PlantNET makes no mention, C. diffusium is also not in the USDA species list for this genus - see: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2285 so I suspect it may not be a valid name.
20 Sep 2015
Thanks Ken, I'll make a suggestion of Cerastium vulgare, since it has already been reported locally.
21 Sep 2015
Cerastium seems to be exercising people's minds. Richardson, Richardson and Shepherd 'Weeds of the South-East' lists several species including C. diffusum (which is on one of the USDA websites). Atlas of Living Australia gives several ACT records for C. vulgare but few for C. diffusum. The PlantNET key is incomplete.
21 Sep 2015
Thanks Mike, the thing that confused me about this genus is that a couple of keys and descriptions indicated that the plants have five petals and in the images I saw for C. diffusum showed four petals so I wondered if it have been placed into a different genus, but no, it just seems to be an exception. Not sure about this one being C. vulgare though as the hairs appear to project past the apex of the sepals as in the PlantNET description for C. glomeratum. Also the inflorescence seems to fit the description of a dense terminal dichasial cyme as in C. glomeratum rather than a ordinary (?) dichasial cyme as with C. vulgare. But I've never tried to take these beyond genus before, so now waiting on someone who knows more about them.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.059963-35.427366
- Altitude 632.3m
- Maps Pine Island to Point Hut
- Places Greenway, ACT
Sighting information
- 101 - 1,000 Abundance
- 17 Sep 2015 12:00 AM Recorded on
- MichaelBedingfield Recorded by
Collections
- MichaelBedingfield Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Cerastium vulgare Other Wildflowers & Herbs Plants
Species information
- Cerastium vulgare Scientific name
- Mouse Ear Chickweed Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Exotic
- Minor weed or pest
- Up to 1349.64m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Seasonal activity
-
In flower
JFMAMJJASOND
Record quality
Quality score
4 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Additional attributes