BACK to Index

El Paso County Wildflower Project - Field Chickweed

Field Chickweed

Bloom Season: April - August

Habitat: Common across Colorado’s mountainous and foothill counties, it can be found natively in open meadows, subalpine forests, rocky outcrops, and occasionally alongside human-disturbed areas like roadsides

Photography Notes: Susceptible to a breeze

Credits: Jason Fazio, 17 June

Cerastium arvense is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names field mouse-ear[1] and field chickweed.[2] It is a widespread species, occurring throughout Europe and North America, as well as parts of South America. It is a variable species. There are several subspecies, but the number and defining characteristics are disputed.[3]

Cerastium arvense is a perennial herb growing up to 30–45 cm (12–18 in)[3][4] tall. It takes the form of a mat, clump, creeper, or upright flower, and may grow from a taproot or tangled system of rhizomes. It is usually somewhat hairy in texture, often with glandular hairs. The leaves are linear, lance-shaped, or oblong, and a few centimeters in length. The inflorescence may consist of a single flower to a dense cluster of many. The flower has five white petals, each with two lobes, and five hairy green sepals at the base. The fruit is a capsule up to 1.5 cm (0.59 in) long with ten tiny teeth at the tip, which contains several brown seeds.

Primula pauciflora, the pretty shooting star, few-flowered shooting star, dark throat shooting star or prairie shooting star, is a species of flowering plant in the primula family Primulaceae. It is a widespread and very variable species, native to western North America, from Subarctic America to Mexico,[1][3] often in xeric (extremely dry) and desert habitats. It is found in the Great Basin Deserts and Mojave Desert. Its synonyms include Dodecatheon pauciflorum and Dodecatheon pulchellum.

Image Credit: Jason Fazio

Edit necessary? Contact me

BACK‍ ‍to Index

Field Chickweed (native) is one of many wildflowers featured in the El Paso CO Wildflower Project, a community-built field guide documenting the wildflowers of El Paso County, Colorado.