Cerastium tetrandrum Curtis:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

introduced; Calif., Ill.; Europe.

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

Plants annual, with slender taproot. Stems decumbent or ascending, diffusely branched, 7.5-30 cm, densely covered and viscid with short, glandular hairs; small axillary tufts of leaves ab-sent. Leaves not marcescent, ses-sile distally, spatulate to pseudopetiolate proximally; blade 5-10 × 2-4 mm, covered with short, glandular and eglandular hairs; proximal blades oblanceolate, apex obtuse; cauline blades ovate or oblong-ovate, apex acute. Inflorescences lax, 3-30-flowered cymes; bracts lanceolate to ovate, herbaceous, glandular-pubescent. Pedicels straight, ultimately erect in fruit, slender, 2-15 mm, much longer than capsule, glandular. Flowers 4(-5)-merous; sepals lanceolate, 4-7 mm, margins narrow distally, apex acute or acuminate, glandular-pubescent, hairs usually not projecting beyond apex; petals ca. 3 mm, ca. 0.75 times as long as sepals, apex 2-fid; stamens 4(-5); styles 4(-5). Capsules narrowly cylindric, nearly straight, 5-7.5 mm, 1-1.5 times as long as sepals; teeth 8 or 10, erect, margins convolute. Seeds reddish brown, 0.5-0.7 mm, bluntly tuberculate; testa not inflated. 2n = 72.

Cerastium atrovirens Babington; C. tetrandrum Curtis

Sandy places on coast, rarely inland in similar places and on railway ballast; 0-300m.

Comments: In U.S. this species is rarely found along roadsides.

Flowering spring.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 7
Species With Barcodes: 1

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

Rounded Global Status Rank: GNR - Not Yet Ranked

Reasons: This species is a native of Europe and is a rare escape in U.S. (Mohlenbrock, 1986).

This species was abundant on the sandy shore at Fort Bragg, Mendocino County, California, in 1985 and should be looked for elsewhere. The entirely herbaceous bracts, short capsule, and the floral parts usually in fours identify this small weedy species.  

Previous reports of this species (as Cerastium tetrandrum) by J. A. Steyermark (1963) from Missouri and M. L. Fernald (1950) from Virginia are referable to C. pumilum and C. brachypetalum, respectively.