Chickweeds and Pinks
Cerastium
1 Petals 10-18mm long, 2-3× as long as sepals; leaves 2-7cm long; plants perennial, typically with some shoots not flowering.2 Leaf blades narrowly to broadly linear, acute or short-acuminate at tip, tapered to base; stems erect nearly whole length
.............................................................................................................................................................................................. Field Mouse-ear
2 Leaf blades narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, obtuse to acute at tip, more-or-less rounded at base; stems spreading or decumbent
basally, ascending-erect distally.
1 Petals 3-8mm long, shorter than, equaling, or up to 1.5× as long as the sepals; leaves 0.5-3.0cm long (to 8cm long in Nodding Mouse-ear);
plants annual, with all shoots producing flowers (except Common Mouse-ear).
3 Perennial, matted at the base and rooting at the nodes............................................................................................ Common Mouse-ear
3 Annual, taprooted.
4 Sepals with long, appressed, eglandular hairs extending beyond the tip of the sepal................................................. Sticky Mouse-ear
4 Sepals lacking long, appressed, eglandular hairs.
5 Bracts of the inflorescence with green margins; leaves mostly (1.0-)1.5-8cm long................................................Nodding Mouse-ear
5 Bracts of the inflorescence with distinctly scarious margins; leaves mostly 0.5-1.0-(-1.5)cm long.
6 Petals equaling or surpassing the sepals; cleft in petal apex 1.0-1.5mm deep ....................................................... Dwarf Mouse-ear
6 Petals shorter than the sepals; cleft in petal apex 0.2-0.5(-0.9)mm deep ............................................................... Little Mouse-ear
Silene
1 Styles mostly 5; capsule with 5 or 10 teeth; calyx tubular at anthesis.2 Leaf blades with dense silky white hairiness; flowers bisexual ........................................................................................... Rose Campion
2 Leaf blades variously pubescent, but not with silky-appressed pubescence.
3 Petals pink; capsule teeth revolute .............................................................................................................................................Red Campion
3 Petals white; capsule teeth spreading to slightly reflexed .................................................................................................... White Campion
1 Styles mostly 3; capsule with 3 or 6 teeth; calyx tubular or campanulate at anthesis.
4 Middle stem leaves in whorls of 4; petals fimbriate ............................................................................................................Starry Campion
4 Middle stem leaves opposite; petals entire, bilobed, 2-cleft, or 8-cleft.
5 Plant < 25cm tall; plant perennial, with a stout, carrot-like taproot ................................................................................. Carolina Catchfly
5 Plant usually 20-80cm tall (depauperate individuals rarely smaller); plant annual or biennial (perennial from a creeping rhizome in
Bladder Campion), lacking a carrot-like taproot.
6 Calyx with 20-30 parallel veins ............................................................................................................................................ Sand Catchfly
6 Calyx with 10 or fewer veins (or the venation obscure).
7 Plants rhizomatous perennials; petals white............................................................................................................. Bladder Campion
7 Plants annuals; petals white, pink, or lavender.
8 Stems glabrous or sparsely pubescent (if pubescent, puberulent).
9 Calyx 4-10 mm long ................................................................................................................................................. Sleepy Catchfly
9 Calyx 13-17 mm long ................................................................................................................................ Sweet-William Catchfly
8 Stems densely pubescent (hirsute or glandular-hirsute).
10 Petals entire or emarginate; fruiting calyx 6-10mm long .................................................................... Small-flowered Catchfly
10 Petals deeply 2-lobed; calyx; fruiting calyx 10-30mm long.
11 Fruiting calyx 10-15mm long; petal appendages ca. 0.2mm long .................................................................... Forked Catchfly
11 Fruiting calyx (15-)25-30mm long; petal appendages 0.5-1.5mm long .......................................... Night-flowering Catchfly