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Cerastium fontanum
Also called Common Mouse Ear, Mouse Ear Chickweed, Common Chickweed, Mouse Eared Chickweed
Common mouse-ear chickweed is a low, mat-forming perennial (sometimes annual) with hairy, opposite leaves and small white star-shaped flowers. It spreads by rooting wherever its stems touch soil, so it is easy to establish and hard to keep out of lawns and beds.
Cerastium fontanum, also called mouse-ear chickweed, common mouse-ear, or starweed, is a species of mat-forming perennial or, rarely, annual plant. It is native to Europe but introduced elsewhere. Its identifying characteristics are tear-shaped leaves growing opposite one another in a star pattern, hairy leaves, and small white flowers. Mouse-ear chickweed typically grows to 4"-8" tall and spreads horizontally along the ground via the formation of roots wherever the stem falls over and contacts the ground.
It is native to Europe, Greenland, the Himalayas and Japan. It is common throughout Great Britain and Ireland. It has been introduced to the Falkland Islands and MacQuarie Island, and to many other places around the world, including all 50 of the United States and all provinces and territories of Canada except Nunavut.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cerastium fontanum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
