MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED 



Mouse-ear Chickweed is 

 6 in. or more in height. The 

 flowers are to be seen in 

 June and July. The plant 

 is annual, and propagated 

 by seed. 



The llowers arc much 

 smaller than in C. arveiisc 

 (which see), and consequently 

 insect visits are (ew, and it 

 is not so markedly proteran- 

 drous as C. arvense. The 

 honey is half-concealed. The 

 plant is self-pollinated, pro- 

 ducing- seed when no insects 

 visit it. The visitors are Dip- 

 tera, Syrphida;, Svi-itfa pi- 

 pic its, Empida;, Empis livuia. 



This Chickweed is dis- 

 persed by the wind. The 

 seeds are blown, when ripe, 

 out of the many-valved cap- 

 sule by the wind. 



The plant is a .sand-loving 

 plant, recjuiring a sand soil or 

 light sandy loam. It is found 

 on many formations which 

 yield an abundant sand. 



Chickweed is galled by 

 Cecidomyia cenistii. The 

 insects that feed on it are 

 Lepidoptera, (lelcchia tiiar- 

 inorea, Small Yellow Under- 

 wing {Heliodes arbuti), and 

 the Homopteron, Dorthcsia 

 iirtiici-. 



Lci-astiiiiii, Linn.'eus, from 

 cei'as, Greek for horn, is so 

 called from the shape of the 

 seed, and vii/oatinn alludes 

 to its universalitv. 



175 



I'hoto. II. irviiiy 



iMursH-KAK Chickweed {Ccrastium vulgatum^ L.) 



