cerastium

[ suh-ras-tee-uhm ]

noun,plural ce·ras·ti·ums.

any of various low-growing plants of the genus Cerastium, having leaves covered with whitish or grayish down and small white flowers, and including mouse-ear chickweed and snow-in-summer.

Origin of cerastium

<New Latin (Linnaeus) <Greek kerást(ēs) horned (see cerastes) + New Latin -ium-ium; so called from the horn-shaped seed capsules of some species

In fig. 16 the biparous cyme is represented in the flowering branch of cerastium.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 | Various
This is the prettiest cerastium, though not so "mousy" as some, and grows in dry as well as moist situations.
Field Book of Western Wild Flowers | Margaret Armstrong
A smooth cerastium, agreeing in every respect with the large-flowered one, except the hairiness and hoary aspect of the leaves.
Lachesis Lapponica | Carl von Linn
The large-flowered cerastium (C. alpinum) was here every where in abundance, and the prickly Lycopodium.
Lachesis Lapponica | Carl von Linn
Of the less conspicuous genera, the chick-weeds (cerastium and Stellaria) are the most familiar.
Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany | Douglas Houghton Campbell

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