Common Mouse-ear Chickweed
Cerastium fontanum
Not native to Arkansas. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 41%
- Height
- 6 inches–1.5 feet
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to average
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
Not yet recorded · Spread · Light · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 18 Arkansas counties.
Who uses this plant?
4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AR
Genus host records with ranges including AR · Cerastium
- Agnorisma badinodisPale-Banded Dart
- Agrotis venerabilisVenerable Dart, Dusky Cut-Worm
- Hadena capsularisCapsule Moth
- Haematopis gratariaChickweed Geometer
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
6BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Cerastium
- Anser caerulescensSnow Goose
- Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Falcipennis canadensisSpruce Grouse
- Lagopus leucuraWhite-tailed Ptarmigan
- Lagopus mutaRock Ptarmigan
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Caryophyllaceae
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Height · “6 inches–1.5 feet” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
Also known as
Cerastium holosteoides var. vulgare; Common Mouse Ear Chickweed
Conservation status
| Arkansas rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| AR status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Arkansas occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications