Cherleria biflora(L.) A. J. Moore & Dillenb.

mountain stitchwort

WFO wfo-1000080014 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cherleria biflora, photographed by J Straka
fig. a J Straka, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-25 / obs. 155026826
Cherleria biflora, photographed by J Straka
fig. b J Straka, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151503606
Cherleria biflora, photographed by Ellyne Geurts
fig. c Ellyne Geurts, CC0 1.0 / obs. 163377489
Cherleria biflora, photographed by J Straka
fig. d J Straka, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91046777
Cherleria biflora, photographed by J Straka
fig. e J Straka, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91046787
Cherleria biflora, photographed by Syd Cannings
fig. f Syd Cannings, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 80204166
Cherleria biflora, photographed by hitchco
fig. g hitchco, CC0 1.0 / obs. 41379528
Cherleria biflora, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. h Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 143657938

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 493880
Filed as
Cherleria biflora (L.) A.J.Moore & Dillenb.
Det. by
Strong, M. T., (US), Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (UNITED STATES)
Collected
J. Macoun 1904-08-10
Origin
CA
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 46 botanical countries

Regions where Cherleria biflora is native: Afghanistan, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Mongolia, Sakhalin, Tadzhikistan, Tuva, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Austria, East European Russia, Finland, Iceland, Italy, North European Russia, Norway, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Alaska, Alberta, Aleutian Is., British Columbia, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Nevada, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Oregon, Québec, Washington, Yukon AfghanistanAltayBuryatiyaChitaIrkutskJapanKamchatkaKazakhstanKhabarovskKirgizstanKrasnoyarskMagadanMongoliaSakhalinTadzhikistanTuvaWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaPakistanWest HimalayaAustriaEast European RussiaFinlandIcelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorwaySvalbardSwedenSwitzerlandAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaGreenlandIdahoLabradorNevadaNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNunavutOregonQuébecWashingtonYukon
Native distribution of Cherleria biflora, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Buryatiya BRY
Chita CTA
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kamchatka KAM
Kazakhstan KAZ
Khabarovsk KHA
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Magadan MAG
Mongolia MON
Sakhalin SAK
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Aleutian Is. ALU
British Columbia BRC
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Nevada NEV
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nunavut NUN
Oregon ORE
Québec QUE
Washington WAS
Yukon YUK
Austria AUT EUROPE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Iceland ICE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Svalbard SVA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Aleutian Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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 313 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -32.6 °C -19.6 °C -14.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 4.4 °C 13.9 °C 17.2 °C
Annual rainfall 383 mm 1,042 mm 1,958 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 40 mm 148 mm 321 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 313 research-grade observations of Cherleria biflora 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 16 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 biflora (L.) Wahlenb.
  • Alsine biflora f. densissima Abrom.
  • Alsine biflora f. laxior Abrom.
  • Alsine biflora var. versicolor Brügger
  • Alsinella biflora (L.) Sw.
  • Alsinopsis biflora (L.) Rydb.
  • Arenaria diantha Bonnier
  • Arenaria sajanensis Willd. ex D.F.K.Schltdl.
  • Arenaria sajanensis var. carnosula (Fenzl) B.L.Rob.
  • Arenaria sajanensis var. rigidula (Fenzl) B.L.Rob.
  • Arenaria scandinavica Spreng.
  • Cerastium biflorum (L.) Crantz
  • Lidia biflora (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve
  • Minuartia biflora (L.) Schinz & Thell.
  • Sabulina biflora (L.) Rchb.
  • Stellaria biflora L.

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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol MIBI9. public domain. 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.