Aleutian mouse-ear chickweed

Cerastium beeringianum Chamisso & Schlechtendal var. aleuticum (Hultén) S. L. Welsh

Plants perennial, tufted, rhizoma-tous, eglandular. Stems branched, 3-7 cm, subglabrous proximally, softly pubescent distally, proximal internodes congested; small axillary tufts of leaves absent. Leaves proximal leaves marcescent, pseudopetiolate, spatulate, distal sessile; blade elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 4-12 × 2-5 mm, apex ± obtuse, hirsute with long, straight, eglandular hairs or subglabrous except for midrib and margins. Inflorescences 1-3-flowered, dense cymes; bracts foliaceous, margins not scarious, pubescent. Pedicels becoming curved at apex, slender, 2-12 mm, to 3 times as long as sepals, pubescence spreading, eglandular, fuscous hairs equaling or longer than pedicel diam. Flowers: sepals lanceolate to elliptic, concave, 4-5 mm, margins narrow, apex acute to obtuse, pubescent; petals 1-1.5 times as long as sepals, apex 2-fid; stamens 10; styles 5. Capsules cylindric, slightly curved, 8-11 mm, 1-2 times as long as sepals, teeth 10, ± erect, margins convolute. Seeds brown, 0.8-1 mm, shallowly and obtusely tuberculate; testa not inflated, tightly enclosing seed.

Flowering summer. Stony ground, screes, etc., mountain slopes; 200-700 m; Alaska.

Cerastium aleuticum is an eglandular relative of C. beeringianum. It is similar to C. bialynickii except in being eglandular and having less dense pubescence and narrower sepals. It is confined to the western arctic, mainly on the Aleutian, St. Lawrence, St. Paul, Popof, and Kodiak islands, but is not found on mainland Alaska.