Cerastium nutansRaf.

nodding chickweed

WFO wfo-0000595914 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cerastium nutans, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. a Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-23 / obs. 190101935
Cerastium nutans, photographed by Michael J. Papay
fig. b Michael J. Papay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190099950
Cerastium nutans, photographed by John Kees
fig. c John Kees, CC0 1.0 / obs. 196895973
Cerastium nutans, photographed by John Kees
fig. d John Kees, CC0 1.0 / obs. 141587964
Cerastium nutans, photographed by Brandon Corder
fig. e Brandon Corder, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126565456
Cerastium nutans, photographed by Brandon Corder
fig. f Brandon Corder, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126564580
Cerastium nutans, photographed by Sandy Wolkenberg
fig. g Sandy Wolkenberg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 18572783
Cerastium nutans, photographed by Sarah Johnson
fig. h Sarah Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 8345302

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 57 botanical countries

Regions where Cerastium nutans is native: Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru AlabamaAlaskaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaColoradoConnecticutGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesOhioOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukonColombiaGuatemalaPeru DelawareDistrict of Columbia
Native distribution of Cerastium nutans, 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
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alaska ASK
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Colombia CLM SOUTHERN AMERICA
Guatemala GUA
Peru PER

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.

Flowering 58 in flower of 66 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Cerastium nutans observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 58 of 66 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 9 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 113 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -17.0 °C -5.3 °C 2.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 17.1 °C 26.9 °C 31.6 °C
Annual rainfall 502 mm 1,044 mm 1,508 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 38 mm 122 mm 300 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 113 research-grade observations of Cerastium nutans 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. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 27 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.

  • Cerastium apricum Schltdl.
  • Cerastium apricum var. angustifolium Schltdl.
  • Cerastium apricum var. brachycarpum Schltdl.
  • Cerastium cuspidatum Hemsl.
  • Cerastium diehlii M.E.Jones
  • Cerastium glutinosum Nutt.
  • Cerastium glutinosum var. glabratum F.N.Williams
  • Cerastium glutinosum var. laxum Triana & Planch.
  • Cerastium grenieri F.W.Schultz
  • Cerastium longepedunculatum Muhl.
  • Cerastium longipedunculatum Britton
  • Cerastium longipedunculatum var. apricum Briq.
  • Cerastium murale Schur
  • Cerastium nutans subsp. obtectum (Kearney & Peebles) A.Haines
  • Cerastium nutans var. apricum (Schltdl.) Rohrb.
  • Cerastium nutans var. nutans
  • Cerastium nutans var. occidentale B.Boivin
  • Cerastium nutans var. vestitum Hook.
  • Cerastium oblongifolium Torr.
  • Cerastium opizii Seidl
  • Cerastium ovale Besser
  • Cerastium petraeum F.W.Schultz
  • Cerastium ripartianum F.W.Schultz
  • Cerastium saxigenum Schur

and 3 more.

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.