PINK FAMILY 



THE LEAVES: opposite; ovate or oval; one and one half 

 inches long or less; acute or rarely obtuse at the apex; 

 the lower petioled and often heart-shaped at the base; the 

 upper stemless; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: very small, in terminal, leafy cymes, or, 

 solitary in the axils, on slender stems, close early and open 

 late or not at all in cloudy weather. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



This is the common Chickweed, of slight and delicate 

 build, with a weak and low-lying stem and small, pointed, 

 light-green leaves. The minute flowers have five white 

 petals, so deeply cleft that they appear as ten. As some- 

 one has observed, "In spite of its frail appearance, this 

 plant is probably the hardiest and most persistent weed on 

 earth." 



CARYOPHYLLACE^: PINK FAMILY 



Cerastium arvense, L. 



White Field Chickwe 



Field Mouse-ear Chickweed, 

 April- July Meadow Chickweed. 



Cerastium: Greek, meaning a thorn, in allusion to the shape 



of the pod. 

 Arvense: Latin, belonging in a field. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil. 



THE PLANT: densely tufted, four inches to ten inches 

 high; the flowering stem simple or sparingly branched, 

 with short, downy hairs or nearly hairless. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; linear-oblong, linear, or narrowly 

 lanceolate; with few, short, soft hairs on both surfaces; 

 acute at the apex; narrowed at the base; entire; sessile. 



THE FLOWERS: few, at the top of the stem in a cyme. 

 THE FRUIT: a pod 



