Cerastium amplexicaule Sims.

Herbs perennial, 50--100 cm tall, subglabrous or proximally villous. Stems stout, longitudinally striate. Leaves sessile, oblong to elliptic or ovate, 5--8 × 1.5--3 cm, base amplexicaul, apex subobtuse or acute. Cyme large, spreading; bracts leaflike, ovate. Flowers ca. 3 cm in diam.; pedicel 1--2.5(--6) cm. Sepals 5, glossy, elliptic-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 0.8--1.2 cm × 3.5--5 mm, margin membranous, apex acute. Petals white, obovate, 1.5--2 × as long as sepals; claw bearded; limb apex 2-lobed. Stamens equaling sepals. Styles 5. Capsule cylindric, straight, 1.5--2 × as long as calyx. Seeds dark brown, oblate, ca. 1.5 mm, acutely tuberculate. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug--Sep.

The specific epithet was spelled “dahuricum” in FRPS; however, the protologue used the spelling “davuricum.”

The flowers are large and ornamental.

Coniferous forests, hill scrub, meadows; (1000--)1900--2400 (--2800) m. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia; SW Asia].