CERASTIUM SEMIDECANDRUM
Family and Genus:- See- CARYOPHYLLACEAE
Common Names:- None
Homotypic 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.
a) basal oblanceolate.
b) 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 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.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
