FIELD MOUSE-EAR 143 



Devon, N. Somersets, Dorset, I. of Wight, Monmouth, Worcester, from 

 S. Wales; and it occurs in N. Wales only in Carnarvon, Denbigh, 

 Flint, Anglesea; and is absent from S. Lanes, Westmorland, Ayr, 

 Renfrew, Peebles, Selkirk, Mid and N. Perth. In England it is not 

 uncommon, in Scotland it is rarer in the West and N. Highlands. 



The Field Mouse-ear turns up here and there over a wide area in 

 England upon the stony heights of the Midlands, and on sandy fields 

 and waste places in the south and east. It is a saxicolar xerophyte, 

 and may be found, on walls and rocks, in situations similar to the 



Photo. Kev. C. A. Hall 



FIELD MOUSE-EAR (Cerastium arvense, L.) 



Cheddar Pink, Sandwort, Bird's -foot, White Meadow Saxifrage, 

 Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Musk Thistle, and other dry-soil-loving species. 



This plant is very rigid, and generally prostrate, with numerous 

 barren shoots which make a kind of turf where they grow, but the 

 flowering shoots are ascending. The leaves are deep-green, linear- 

 lance-shaped, blunt, and fringed with hairs at the base. The stem is 

 brittle owing to jointing. 



The flowers are larger than in the Common Mouse-ear, the petals 

 being twice as long as the calyx, which has membranous margins and 

 tips. The capsule is longer than the calyx, and the seeds are acutely 

 tubercled, numerous, and reddish-brown. 



The plant in flower is usually at most 6 in. in height. It flowers 

 from April and May till August. It is perennial, increasing by division. 



