Cerastium vulgatum Linnaeus var. leiopetalum Fenzl.

Herbs perennial, 5--15 cm tall. Roots slender, fibrous. Stems caespitose, ascending, densely pubescent. Proximal leaves spatulate, long pubescent; distal leaves oblong to ovate-elliptic, 5--15 × 3--7 mm, both surfaces white pubescent, midvein conspicuous, base cuneate, margin ciliate, apex obtuse. Cyme terminal; bracts leaflike. Pedicel 5--8 mm, densely glandular pubescent, after anthesis usually nutant. Sepals 5, lanceolate-oblong, 5--6 mm, abaxially densely pubescent, margin broadly membranous, sometimes purplish. Petals 5, white, oblong, 1.3--1.5 × as long as sepals, 2-lobed for ca. 1/4 their length. Styles 5. Capsule narrowly cylindric, ca. 2 × as long as calyx, 10-toothed. Seeds brown, compressed globose, tuberculate. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

Mountain summit grasslands; 2800--3800 m. Gansu, SW Nei Mongol (Helan Shan), Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].