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Cerastium gibraltaricum

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Caryophyllaceae

Herbs annual or perennial , rarely subshrubs or shrubs . Stems and branches usually swollen at nodes. Leaves opposite, decussate, rarely alternate or verticillate , simple , entire, usually connate at base ; stipules scarious , bristly , or often absent. Inflorescence of cymes or cymose panicles, rarely flowers solitary or few in racemes , capitula, pseudoverticillasters, or umbels. Flowers actinomorphic , bisexual , rarely unisexual , occasionally cleistogamous . Sepals (4 or) 5, free , imbricate, or connate into a tube , leaflike or scarious, persistent , sometimes bracteate below calyx. Petals (4 or) 5, rarely absent, free, often comprising claw and limb; limb entire or split, usually with coronal scales at juncture of claw and limb. Stamens (2--) 5--10, in 1 or 2 series. Pistil 1; carpels 2--5, united into a compound ovary. Ovary superior, 1-loculed or basally imperfectly 2--5-loculed. Gynophore present or absent. Placentation free, central, rarely basal; ovules (1 or) few or numerous , campylotropous. Styles (1 or) 2--5, sometimes united at base. Fruit usually a capsule, with pericarp crustaceous , scarious, or papery , dehiscing by teeth or valves 1 or 2 × as many as styles, rarely berrylike with irregular dehiscence or an achene. Seeds 1 to numerous, reniform , ovoid , or rarely dorsiventrally compressed , abaxially grooved , blunt , or sharply pointed , rarely fimbriate-pectinate; testa granular , striate or tuberculate , rarely smooth or spongy ; embryo strongly curved and surrounding perisperm or straight but eccentric ; perisperm mealy.

Between 75 and 80 genera and ca. 2000 species: widespread but mainly of temperate or warm-temperate occurrence in the N hemisphere, with principal centers of distribution in the Mediterranean region and W Asia to W China and the Himalayas, fewer species in Africa S of the Sahara, America, and Oceania; 30 genera (two endemic) and 390 species (193 endemic) in China.

Arenaria, Silene, and Stellaria contain over half the species in the family in China. They are mostly concentrated in the Qinghai-Xizang plateau , and are especially rich from the Hengduan Mountains to the Himalayas. The main uses of this family are medicinal and ornamental . Dianthus superbus, Pseudostellaria heterophylla, Stellaria dichotoma var. lanceolata, and Vaccaria hispanica are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine . Some species of Arenaria, Dianthus, Gypsophila, Psammosilene, and Silene are used as medicinal herbs among the people or are habitually used in local Chinese medicine. Many species of Dianthus, Gypsophila, Lychnis, Saponaria, and Silene are grown as ornamentals. Atocion armeria (Linnaeus) Rafinesque ( Silene armeria Linnaeus), native to Russia and Europe, is also cultivated in China. It differs from Silene in having a corymbose inflorescence and obscure calyx veins. Wu Cheng-yih, Ke Ping, Zhou Li-hua, Tang Chang-lin & Lu De-quan. 1996. Caryophyllaceae. In: Tang Chang-lin, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 26: 47–449.[1]

Genus Cerastium

Herbs, annual , winter annual , or perennial . Taproots slender, perennial taxa often rhizomatous , rooting at nodes. Stems ascending to erect or decumbent , simple or branched, terete . Leaves basally connate , petiolate (basal in some species) or sessile (cauline) ; blade 1-5-veined, linear or elliptic to broadly ovate , not succulent (except in C. bialynickii, C. regelii, and C. viride), apex acute to obtuse . Inflorescences terminal , open or congested cymes, or flowers solitary, axillary (racemosely arranged in C. axillare) ; bracts paired , foliaceous or reduced, herbaceous or often with scarious margins . Pedicels erect, sometimes reflexed or hooked at apex in fruit, or flowers sometimes subsessile (C. regelii). Flowers bisexual , occasionally unisexual and pistillate ; perianth and androecium hypogynous or weakly perigynous; hypanthium minimal; sepals (4-) 5, distinct , green (red-tipped in C. glomeratum and C. pumilum, often violet-tipped in C. alpinum, purple in C. bialynickii, turning pale orange-brown in fruit in C. texanum), elliptic to ovate, 3-12 mm, herbaceous, margins translucent to purplish, scarious, apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse, not hooded ; petals (4-) 5 or sometimes absent, white (purple tinged in C. pumilum and C. regelii), clawed, blade apex 2-fid 1/ 1/ 2 of length , notched , or emarginate ; nectaries at base of filaments opposite sepals; stamens usually 10, sometimes 5 or 8, occasionally 4; filaments distinct, inserted at base of ovary; staminodes absent or 1-4 (via anther abortion ), linear; styles (3-) 5(-6), clavate to filiform , 0.5-2 mm, glabrous proximally; stigmas (3-) 5(-6), subterminal to linear along adaxial surface of styles, roughened to papillate (30×). Capsules oblong or cylindric , usually ± curved , opening by 10, or occasionally 6 or 8, erect or spreading , convolute or revolute teeth, longer than sepals; carpophore absent. Seeds 15-150+, orange to brown, angular-obovate, often with abaxial groove , laterally compressed , papillate-tuberculate, marginal wing absent, appendage absent. x = [9?, 13, 15] 17, 18, 19.

Species ca. 100: worldwide, but mainly north-temperate region.

While the base chromosome number for Cerastium is often cited as x = 9, only a single count of 2n = 18 is known; see C. Favarger and M. Krähenbühl (1996) for a discussion of the diverse cytological conditions found in Cerastium.[2]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,041 meters (0 to 3,415 feet).[3]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Boiss. Publication : Elench. 24

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Cerastium

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 67 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. aleuticum (Aleutian Chickweed) · C. alpinum alpinum (Alpine Chickweed) · C. alpinum alpinum var. alpinum (Alpine Mouse-Ear Chickweed) · C. alpinum glanduliferum (Alpine Chickweed) · C. alpinum lanatum (Alpine Chickweed) · C. alpinum lanatum var. lanatum (Snow-In-The-Summer) · C. alpinum subsp. lanatum (Alpine Chickweed) · C. arcticum var. arcticum (Arctic Chickweed) · C. arcticum var. procerum (Arctic Chickweed) · C. arcticum var. sordidum (Arctic Chickweed) · C. arcticum var. vestitum (Arctic Chickweed) · C. arvense (Field Chickweed) · C. arvense fuegianum (Prairie Mouse-Ear Chickweed) · C. arvense maximum (Field Chickweed) · C. arvense strictum (Prairie Mouse-Ear Chickweed) · C. arvense var. villosum (Field Chickweed) · C. arvense velutinum (Field Chickweed) · C. arvense subsp. fuegianum (Field Chickweed) · C. arvense subsp. maximum (Field Chickweed) · C. arvense subsp. strictum (Field Mouse-Ear Chickweed) · C. arvense subsp. velutinum (Field Chickweed) · C. atrovirens (Mouse-Ears) · C. axillare (Texas Chickweed) · C. beeringianum (Bering Chickweed) · C. beeringianum earlei (Bering Chickweed) · C. beeringianum glabratum (Bering Chickweed) · C. beeringianum terrae-novae (Bering Chickweed) · C. beeringianum subsp. terrae-novae (Bering Chickweed) · C. biebersteinii (Bering Chickweed) · C. brachypetalum (Gray Chickweed) · C. brachypetalum tauricum (Gray Chickweed) · C. brachypodum (Bractpod Chickweed) · C. candidissimum (Silver Carpet) · C. cerastioides (Mountain Chickweed) · C. dichotomum (Forked Chickweed) · C. diffusum (Four-Stamen Chickweed) · C. dubium (Doubtful Chickweed) · C. earlei earlei (Bering Chickweed) · C. fischerianum (Fischer's Chickweed) · C. fontanum (Big Chickweed) · C. fontanum fontanum (Common Chickweed) · C. fontanum triviale (Common Chickweed) · C. fontanum vulgare (Common Chickweed) · C. fontanum subsp. scandicum (Common Chickweed) · C. glomeratum (Mouseear Chickweed) · C. gorodkovianum (Tundra Chickweed) · C. gracile (Slender Chickweed) · C. lanatum (Alpine Chickweed) · C. maximum (Great Chickweed) · C. nigrescens arcticum (Black Mouse-Ear Chickweed) · C. nutans (Common Chickweed) · C. nutans var. nutans (Nodding Chickweed) · C. nutans var. obtectum (Nodding Chickweed) · C. pumilum (European Chickweed) · C. pumilum pumilum (European Chickweed) · C. regelii caespitosum (Regel's Chickweed) · C. regelii subsp. caespitosum (Regel's Chickweed) · C. semidecandrum (Five-Stamen Mouse-Ear Chickweed) · C. siculum (Dry Chickweed) · C. sordidum (Chihuahuan Chickweed) · C. tauricum (Gray Chickweed) · C. texanum (Texas Chickweed) · C. tomentosum (Snow in Summer) · C. tomentosum var. columnae (Snow-In-Summer) · C. tomentosum 'Silver Carpet' (Snow-In-Summer) · C. tomentosum 'Yo Yo' (Snow-In-Summer) · C. vulgare (Common Mouse-Ear Chickweed)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 06, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Dequan Lu, Zhengyi Wu, Lihua Zhou, Shilong Chen, Michael G. Gilbert, Magnus Lidén, John McNeill, John K. Morton, Bengt Oxelman, Richard K. Rabeler, Mats Thulin, Nicholas J. Turland & Warren L. Wagner "Caryophyllaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 6 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. John K. Morton "Cerastium". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 574.280 meters (1,884.121 feet), Standard Deviation = 746.480 based on 170 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-07-19