Question: Hello again, ace botanists. Thank you for answering my previous question about the chickweed/stitchwort. I have located a similar plant …
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Question
Hello again, ace botanists. Thank you for answering my previous question about the chickweed/stitchwort. I have located a similar plant (in fact, only about 35 feet from the other), but the grooves in its petals aren’t nearly as deep. It grows low to ground, popping up in between some bricks on the ground, with shorter stems that the stitchwort I observed before. This is in Bristol, Rhode Island. Could it be mouse-ear chickweed?
Answer
Dear chickenparmesan24, good afternoon. I believe I can count five styles in the close-up view of your flower, which would make for the genus Cerastium (rather than Stellaria, with three styles per flower). Yes, as you suggested, this looks like Cerastium fontanum subsp. vulgare (mouse-ear chickweed). This is a common introduction that is found on lawns and other human-disturbed and human-manicured sites. Best wishes.
