Field Chickweed

Cerastium arvense

Field Chickweed (Cerastium arvense) is a low native perennial of the pink family that forms loose mats of narrow leaves, with white, five-petaled flowers whose petals are notched so deeply the flower seems to have ten. It blooms in May and June, a little later up high, and the Black Hills National Forest calls it common throughout the Black Hills.

Free photos from other sources

Field Chickweed: Single flower, two-lobed petals with gray veins and pale yellow stamens — Cerastium arvense. Brian Finzel, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Field Chickweed: One flower held in the fingers, five notched petals around a yellow-green center — Cerastium arvense. Brian Dickerson, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Field Chickweed: Loose mat of white flowers on gravelly ground — Cerastium arvense. Brooke Smith, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Field Chickweed: Flowering patch among rocks and pine needles — Cerastium arvense. Bonnie Isaac, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Field Chickweed: Narrow paired leaves with small leafy tufts in the joints — Cerastium arvense. Jody Shugart, CC BY 4.0, resized. Get it at the source

Field Chickweed: Faded flowers on branching stalks, with young seed capsules — Cerastium arvense. Brian Dickerson, CC0 1.0. Get it at the source

Quick facts
Family	Caryophyllaceae · Pink
Status	Native perennial
Blooms	May and June, sometimes into July
Height	5–30 cm (2–12 in)
Where	Prairie, meadows, rocky slopes and open pine forest
Also called	Prairie Chickweed, Field Mouse-ear Chickweed, Starry Chickweed, American Field Chickweed
Synonym	Cerastium strictum, Cerastium arvense var. strictum, Cerastium elongatum
Note	Black Hills plants are the native subspecies strictum; the European subspecies arvense is introduced and may turn up near towns.

Roots, seeds & germination

Root: A slender taproot that later sends out short rhizomes, with low, leafy shoots spreading from the base to make the loose mats.

Seed: A narrow, often slightly curved, tan capsule 6–11 mm (¼–½ in) long that sticks out past the sepals and opens at the tip by 10 small teeth. Inside are many tiny, flattened, reddish- to golden-brown seeds covered in small bumps.

Germination: Easy. SDSU says the seed needs no pretreatment and can be sown in fall or spring, and a University of Washington nursery protocol found that long, cold storage lowered germination, so fresh seed is best.

How do you identify Field Chickweed?

Look for white flowers about 1–1.5 cm (½ in) across with five petals, each split at the tip into two rounded lobes, so the flower seems to have ten. The petals are about twice as long as the green, hairy sepals behind them, which sets it apart from the weedy Mouse-ear Chickweed and Common Chickweed, whose tiny flowers have petals no longer than the sepals. The narrow leaves grow in opposite pairs, with small tufts of short leaves in the joints of the lower ones, and the upper stems are sticky with glandular hairs. Prairie Star's petals are cut into three finger-like lobes, and Northern Bedstraw has its leaves in whorls of four around a square stem.

When does it bloom?

May and June, sometimes into July.

Where does it grow?

Full sun to light shade on dry to moderately moist, well-drained, often rocky or gravelly ground: mixed-grass prairie, meadows, rocky slopes and outcrops, open ponderosa pine forest, aspen and birch openings and roadsides. Black Hills herbarium specimens come from Lawrence, Pennington, Custer, Meade and Fall River counties and Crook and Weston counties in Wyoming, from about 1,075 to 2,125 m (3,530–6,970 ft). The 1986 Jewel Cave survey lists it, and the National Park Service records it at Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore and Devils Tower.