CERASTIUM SEMIDECANDRUM

Family:- CARYOPHYLLACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Cerastium obtusifolium, Cerastium varians subsp.

semidecandrum.

Meaning:- Cerastium (Gr) Horned, (the fruiting capsule's shape).

Semidecandrum (L) With (about) five stamens.

General description:- Procumbent to erect annual.

Stem:-

1) Up to 20 cm, with eglandular and dense glandular hairs, rarely glabrous.

Leaves:-

1) Up to 18 mm.

2) Basal oblanceolate.

3) Cauline ovate to broadly elliptical.

Flowers:-

1) Pedicels equalling or slightly longer than the sepals; usually with dense glandular

and a few eglandular hairs.

2) Bracts sometimes almost entirely dry, paper-like (scarious), always scarious

in the upper 1/3.

3) Sepals 3-5 mm, lanceolate, acute, with wide scarious margins; usually with

dense glandular and a few eglandular hairs.

4) Petals shorter than the sepals, slightly notched.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule 4·5-7 mm.

2) Seeds 0·4-0·5 mm, yellowish-brown, finely tuberculate.

Key features:-

1) Upper bracts scarious at least in the upper 1/3.

Habitat:- Sandy fields, dry gravelly slopes, coastal habitats, on various substrates.

0-1800 m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, especially in the north. - Widespread in Europe

and SW Asia. On Crete confined mainly to the four massifs. not common.

Flowering time:- Mar to early May.

Photos by:- By kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images.