Cerastium fontanum subsp. vulgare

Common mouse-ear chickweed, Common Mouse-Ear Chickweed

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Common mouse-ear chickweed is a naturalized perennial herb found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, central Sierra Nevada, northern and central Sierra Nevada, southern coastal ranges, southern California coast, San Bernardino Mountains, and Peninsular Ranges in disturbed areas, grassy slopes, damp woodland, and marshy ground at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering in spring, this plant produces white flowers in small clusters with five flower parts and delicate petals 4 to 5 millimeters long. Growing 6 to 35 centimeters tall with a mat-forming habit and erect flowering stems, it often flowers in its first year with non-glandular hairs. Its leaves on the flowering stem are 8 to 25 millimeters long, ranging from lanceolate to broadly oblong in shape. The fruit is 6.5 to 11 millimeters long, with tiny seeds approximately 0.6 to 0.7 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, grassy slopes, damp woodland, marshy ground

Bloom period: Spring

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaRH, c SNF, n&ampc SNH, SCoRO?, SCo, SnBr, PR

California counties: Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Contra Costa, Fresno, Inyo, Lake, Mariposa, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Siskiyou, Tulare, San Mateo, El Dorado, Nevada, Sierra, San Joaquin, Calaveras, San Francisco, Marin, Lassen, Monterey, Napa, Plumas, Tuolumne, Santa Barbara, Placer, Sacramento, Butte, Shasta, Tehama, Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mono, Sonoma, Alpine, Modoc, Mendocino, Yolo, Santa Cruz, Orange

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.