Cerastium arabidis flower

The bisexual flowers of Cerastium arabidis grow in loose, cyme-shaped inflorescences of about seven to thirteen at stem tips. A flower has five glandular-haired sepals, their margins rough and membranous.

The five spreading white petals are deeply bilobed with rounded tips, faintly grey-veined from the base and low down. Corolla diameter is about 2 cm, the sepals about 8 mm long. The yellow-anthered stamens spread around the flower centre, emerging from the base of the superior ovary that has one locule.

Flowering happens in spring to after midsummer, peaking in late spring. The fruit is a yellowish, cylindrical capsule.

The generic name, Cerastium, is derived from the Greek word keras meaning horn, referring to the horned fruit capsules (Germishuizen and Clarke, 2023; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Pooley, 1998; Trauseld 1969; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).