e-Key <span id="jodit_selection_marker_1707827754376_8615625215877372" data-jodit_selection_marker="start" style="line-height: 0; display: none;"></span>v3 - Cera<span id="jodit_selection_marker_1707827754376_06376938736515236" data-jodit_selection_marker="end" style="line-height: 0; display: none;"></span>stium
SANBI Flora Keys Logo
Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Caryophyllaceae - Alsinoideae - Alsineae - Cerastium L.

Description:

  • Annual or perennial herbs, with simple or dichotomously branched stems, usually glandular-hairy
  • Leaves small, opposite, sessile or subsessile, entire; stipules 0
  • Inflorescences terminal, dichotomous, often umbelliform, occasionally flowers solitary; bracts herbaceous or with membranous margins
  • Flowers bisexual, subperigynous
  • Sepals (4)5, free, with scarious-membranous margins
  • Petals (4)5, white, emarginate or bifid, rarely quite entire or deeply cut, sometimes 0
  • Disc of 5 honeyed glands
  • Stamens (8)10 or 5 or fewer
  • Ovary 1-locular; ovules many on free-central placenta; styles (3-)5(6)
  • Fruit a cylindrical capsule, often incurved, membranous, dehiscing by twice as many teeth as styles present
  • Seeds many, reniform or subglobose, often tubercled; embryo almost annular
  • x = 18 (12, 13, 17, 19) (high polyploidy)

Nomenclature:

  • Cerastium L.
    • Linnaeus: 437 (1753)
    • Linnaeus: 199 (1754)
    • Jussieu: 301 (1789)
    • Candolle: 414 (1824)
    • Sonder: 130 (1860)
    • Pax: 80 (1889)
    • Burtt Davy: 150 (1926)
    • Möschl: 15 (1951)
    • Wild: 346 (1961)
    • Jalas, Sell & Whitehead: 136 (1964)
    • Henderson & Anderson: 128 (1966)
    • Wild, Hooper & Diniz: 9 (1973)
    • Friedrich: 902 (1979)
    • Bittrich: 226 (1993)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global: Species ± 100, with almost cosmopolitan distribution, but mainly in the north temperate regions of the Old World; many weeds; some species are cultivated as ornamentals
  • Southern Africa: Species 5, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Lesotho, Western and Eastern Cape

References:

  • BITTRICH, V. 1993. Caryophyllaceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
  • BURTT DAVY, J. 1926. Caryophyllaceae. A manual of the flowering plants and ferns of the Transvaal with Swaziland 1. Longmans, London
  • CANDOLLE, A.-P. DE. 1824. Caryophylleae. Prodromus 1. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
  • FRIEDRICH, H.C. 1979. Caryophyllaceae. In G. Hegi, Illustrierte Flora von Mitteleuropa, edn 2; 3,2
  • HENDERSON, M.D. & ANDERSON, J.G. 1966. Common weeds in South Africa. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 37
  • JALAS, J., SELL, P.D. & WHITEHEAD, F.H. 1964. Caryophyllaceae. Subfamily Alsinoideae. Cerastium. Flora europaea 1
  • JUSSIEU, A.L. DE. 1789. Caryophylleae, les caryophyllées. Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita. Herissant & Barrois, Paris
  • LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • LINNAEUS, C. 1754. Genera plantarum, edn 5. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • MÖSCHL, W. 1951. Die Cerastium-Arten Afrikas südlich der Sahara. Memórias da Sociedade Broteriana 7
  • PAX, F. 1889. Caryophyllaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3,1b
  • SONDER, O.W. 1860. Caryophylleae. Flora capensis 1
  • WILD, H. 1961. Caryophyllaceae. Flora zambesiaca 1
  • WILD, H., HOOPER, S.S. & DINIZ, M.A. 1973. Caryophyllaceae. Flora de Moçambique 19

Copyright of the content hosted by this website remains with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), unless stated otherwise.
Material from this site may be used in other media, provided that SANBI is acknowledged by the name South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) or refer to the 'How to cite this resource' paragraph on the Home page.
Liability disclaimer: Visitors use this site at their own risk and SANBI is not liable for any of the consequences resulting therefrom.