Cerastium brachypetalumPers.

gray chickweedgrey mouse-ear

WFO wfo-0000595299 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Petra Caltová
fig. a Petra Caltová, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-21 / obs. 199593937
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁
fig. b WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190442098
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. c Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 184954181
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. d Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 150875605
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. e Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 150875734
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. f Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 150875685
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. g Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 150875722
Cerastium brachypetalum, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. h Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 143365544

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 35 botanical countries

Regions where Cerastium brachypetalum is native: Algeria, Morocco, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaMoroccoCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalSiciliaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-Europe BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Cerastium brachypetalum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 330 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -5.4 °C -1.7 °C 1.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.1 °C 24.7 °C 29.9 °C
Annual rainfall 562 mm 780 mm 1,383 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 91 mm 147 mm 263 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 330 research-grade observations of Cerastium brachypetalum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 18 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Alsine brachypetala (Desp. ex Pers.) E.H.L.Krause
  • Cerastium atheniense Lonsing
  • Cerastium atticum Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Cerastium barbulatum Wahlenb.
  • Cerastium brachypetalum subsp. luridum (Boiss.) Nyman
  • Cerastium canescens Hornem. ex Ser.
  • Cerastium corcyrense Möschl
  • Cerastium doerfleri Hal. ex Hayek
  • Cerastium epiroticum Möschl & Rech.f.
  • Cerastium gracile Wallr.
  • Cerastium luridum Guss.
  • Cerastium luridum (Boiss.) Lonsing
  • Cerastium luridum subsp. mediterraneum Lonsing
  • Cerastium pindigenum Lonsing
  • Cerastium roeseri Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Cerastium strigosum Fr.
  • Cerastium tauricum Spreng.
  • Cerastium tenoreanum Ser.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.